4.28 Europe: a.d. 1401 to 1500  (Page 15/16)

Ireland

Ireland continued to be dominated by England although by 1500 English influence had waned to be confined to a small border area while the remainder of the country drifted back to a squalid freedom. (Ref. 8 )

Wales

For centuries the Welsh had seethed just under the point of open rebellion against the English and in 1405, with the help of French troops Owen Glendower actually opened fighting. It was 1415 before this rebellion was finally ended and Glendower pardoned. (Ref. 222 ) Even so, it was not until 1485, when the Welsh Henry Tydder (Tudor) became Henry VII of England, that the Welsh began to live peaceably with their English neighbors. (Please see page 720)

Scandinavia

Norway, sweden, and denmark

At the death of Queen Margaret in 1412, her grandnephew Eric, in whose name she had actually ruled, allowed the Union of Calmar, which had loosely bound the three nations, to become in essence a Danish Empire. He introduced the “Sound Dues”, charging all ships going to and from the Baltic through the Danish sound and built castles (including the famous Kronborg castle at Helsingor – English “Elsinore”) along both sides of the narrow strait to protect the area. The dues produced enormous sums of money for Denmark in the next several years, but they also produced immense political troubles. All of the Scandinavian countries were protective of their coastal waters. The city of Bergen in Norway was completely under the control of the Hanseatic League, but when some of their fishermen caught some English poaching in the area, they bound the English and threw them overboard to drown.

In Sweden a peasant uprising, initiated by Englebrecht Engelbrechtson against the king, was backed by the nobles. The revolt spread to Norway, with strong feelings developed against the somewhat autocratic Eric. When the nobles’ pressure reached its height, Eric abdicated and went to Gotland. The aristocracy of all three countries then chose his nephew, Christopher of Bavaria, as his successor. He died in 1448 without a son and Count Christian of Oldenburg, distantly related to the old Danish royal line, was chosen and accepted by Norway and Denmark. But Sweden named Karl Knutsson as its king. (English texts list him as Charles VIII.) Christian promptly attacked the Swedes but lost at the battle of Brunke Hill, in 1471. As a dowry for his daughter Margaret, who married King James III of Scotland, Christian gave the Norwegian Islands of Shetland and Orkney to Scotland. He administered the state well, but like his predecessors, his court was filled with Germans and he was financially dependent on the Hansa cities. Christian arranged a union of Schleswig and Holstein under the Danish crown in 1460 and founded the University of Copenhagen in 1479. On his death, his son Hans was elected successor in both Norway and Denmark. By that time the Swedish nobles were ready to get rid of their King Sten Sture, but couldn’t quite get this promoted before Hans lost his patience and marched on Stockholm with an army, only to be repulsed by Sten Sture the Younger. The clergy supported the King of Denmark, but the nobles pretty well controlled Sweden, with its rising commerce and industry. The University of Uppsala was founded in 1477 and printing was introduced soon afterward. In 1500 King Hans and his cousin, Duke Frederick of Holstein, attacked the Frisians on the fertile marchland at the base of the Jutland peninsula, but they were badly defeated and King Hans was not only humiliated, but then found that some of his subjects, particularly the Swedish peasants, were now ready to throw him over. (Ref. 34 , 117 , 237 , 119 )