The Scandinavian History Podcast

The Swedes kept teasing King Christian, saying that they kind of sort of wanted him back–if he’d only hand over his power to the Swedish Council of the Realm. Christian refused, thinking he’d be able to force the Swedes to accept him as king. After all, no country can cope without a king. Right?

Christian of Oldenburg eventually won the power struggle against Karl Knutsson Bonde, and Karl had to give up his crown and go into exile. But even though Christian was now the undisputed king of the Kalmar Union, the wheel of fortune kept spinning. And Christian was in for a bumpy ride.

When Christopher of Bavaria died young and childless, it only took a few weeks for the “eternal peace” between the Scandinavian kingdoms to crumble as two pretenders, one Danish and one Swedish, both were declared king–of Norway.

King Erik of Pomerania survived all the peasant rebellions in the 1430s only to get into real trouble in the 1440s. But it wasn’t some external threat or domestic unrest that threatened his continued rule, but–as usual–his own hamfisted actions.

Even though Engelbrekt had been murdered, the injustices he’d rebelled against remained. So peasants all over Sweden kept rising up to achieve lower taxes and a just government. And not only in Sweden–the 1430s saw unrest spread like wildfire throughout King Erik’s realms.

In 1434, Engelbrekt Engelbrektsson found himself leading a popular rebellion in Sweden against the king of the Kalmar Union, Erik of Pomerania. Engelbrekt was given a seat on the Council of the Realm and was even appointed Captain of the Realm. 1435 was definitely going to be Engelbrekt’s year.

At midsummer in 1434, open rebellion broke out against King Erik of Pomerania in the Bergslagen region of Sweden. Under the leadership of Engelbrekt Engelbrektsson, angry Swedish peasants burned castles all over the place, and by November the king had basically lost control of the country. But Erik wasn’t ready to throw in the towel quite yet.

In June 1397, noblemen from Denmark, Norway and Sweden got together in Kalmar to celebrate the coronation of Erik of Pomerania, Margaret’s fourteen year-old adoptive son. The assembled nobles also agreed to establish a political union between the three kingdoms, called the Kalmar Union. Or did they?

Margaret dominated Scandinavian politics for almost forty years, but since she was a woman, she wasn’t allowed to rule as queen in her own right. Instead, she had to rule through her son Olav. When he died young, Margaret adopted her sister’s grandson, making him king. That worked fine until she eventually died and he was left to actually run the show on his own.

In his attempts to hold on to his Swedish crown, Albert of Mecklenburg outsourced his naval affairs to a bunch of glorified pirates. Shockingly, when he no longer needed them, they went on being pirates.

In the Middle Ages, trade in Northern Europe was dominated by the Hanseatic League. At its peak, the Hansa had a virtual monopoly on international trade in Scandinavia and the members of the League weren't shy about protecting their privileges. By any means possible.

For hundreds of years, the descendants of the colonists Erik the Red had tricked to come with him to Greenland thrived on their chilly (but not particularly verdant) outpost in the North Atlantic. But in the second half of the 14th century things changed.

Life in Scandinavia in the Middle Ages wasn’t always great, and in the summer of 1349 it took a sharp turn for the worse. For a lot of people it also ended abruptly in considerable agony. The reason was that the Plague had arrived. The ramifications would be felt for generations to come.

After her husband’s death, the aristocratic Bridget Birgersdotter started to have visions where Jesus, Mary and various saints and prophets unloaded on the rich and powerful. Despite making many influential enemies this way, Bridget was canonized after her death and is today one of the six patron saints of Europe.

Magnus Eriksson became king of two kingdoms when he was only three years old. He peaked as a toddler, ruling over Norway, Iceland, Greenland, Sweden and Finland. But it was all downhill from there. Through a combination of unruly aristocrats, foreign invasions and the Plague Magnus Eriksson eventually lost everything.

The Swedish usurper king Magnus Birgersson won the acceptance of the Church and the aristocracy by granting them tax exemptions and other privileges. Paradoxically, he’s also remembered as a friend of the common man for trying to limit greedy noblemen’s ability to abuse peasants. He had three sons, and to say that they didn’t get along would be an understatement.

Even though he never became king, Jarl Birger Magnusson dominated Swedish political life (and the actual king) for many years. He led a crusade, gave women the right to inherit and founded the city of Stockholm. Maybe.

After years of decay and foreign control over Denmark, a new king was elected in 1340. Valdemar IV had his mind set on regaining control over the kingdom–no matter what. And he didn’t let German aristocrats, peasant rebellions or the Plague stand in the way of achieving his goal. For his efforts, he was given the nickname Valdemar Dawn. 

As the descendants of Valdemar the Victorious fought each other, Denmark descended deeper into decay. To raise money, the king pawned off bits of the kingdom to German aristocrats, gradually losing control over the country.

The years following the murder of Erik Plowpenny saw bitter fighting between the Danish kings, who kept getting killed, and the Church and the nobility. The once mighty kingdom was fast losing its position as the leading power in Scandinavia, and no one seemed able to stop the decay.

King Magnus Law Mender is famous for having established one unified law code for all of Norway. Except cities and towns, which had their own laws. And Iceland, obviously. His sons focused more on fighting Denmark and trying to produce legitimate male heirs.

Haakon Haakonsson was king of Norway for a very long time. 46 years to be exact. His long reign is considered the zenith of medieval Norway: he put an end to the Norwegian civil war by defeating his father-in-law, he built multi-story stone buildings, had fashionable fiction translated and expanded Norway to its largest size ever when he took control over Iceland and Greenland.

Fighting among the richest and most powerful clans in Iceland weakened the Commonwealth and opened the door for a Norwegian takeover. In the end, Iceland lost its independence and wouldn’t regain it until 1944.

Through the second and third crusades (that definitely did happen), Sweden took control over Finland, making it a part of Scandinavia from a political, religious, economic, and cultural–if not geographical–perspective.

In the 1150s, king Erik and bishop Henrik went on the First Swedish Crusade to Finland. Maybe. The mission was a success and Finland was won for Christ and for the Swedish crown. Maybe. Erik and Henrik were both rewarded with sainthoods, but only after they met their rather grisly deaths.