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Margaret of Denmark

Medieval Ruler of Denmark, Norway and Sweden

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About Margaret of Denmark

Known for: united the three kingdoms of Sweden, Norway and Denmark under a single ruler in the Kalmar Union; Margaret of Denmark was the first medieval queen to rule in Europe

Occupation: ruler of Denmark, Norway and Sweden

Dates: 1353 - October 28, 1412

Also known as: Margrete I of Denmark, Margaret I of Denmark, Margaret Valdermarsdottir, Margrete Valdemarsdatter

Background, Family:

Mother: Helvig, sister of the Duke of Schleswig
Father: Valdemar IV of Denmark
siblings include: Christopher, Duke of Lolland (1344-1363); Ingeborg, Duchess of Mecklenburg (1347-1370); three others who died in childhood

Marriage, Children:

husband: King Haakon IV of Norway (married 1363)
one son, Olaf (1370 - August 23, 1387)

More About Margaret of Denmark:

Margaret was born in 1353, daughter of Valdemar IV of Denmark and his wife, Helvig. Her first few years wre spent in Denmark.

Context of Margaret's Marriage

King Magnus of Sweden and Norway had two sons by his wife, Blanca of Namur. The older, Erik, was elected the Swedish king in 1344, ruling jointly with his father, Magnus. The younger, Haakon, was elected to rule as King of Norway, as co-ruler with his father. Erik died in 1362, and Magnus named Haakon as his successor in Sweden, though he (Magnus), ruled Sweden alone.

In the early 1360s, Magnus and Haakon, with the German Hanseatic League (a merchant guild), went to war against Margaret's father Valdemar IV of Denmark. The 1363 agreement to end the war included marrying Margaret, then ten years old, to Haakon.

Margaret was sent to Oslo, where her guardian was Marta Ulfsdottir, a daughter of Saint Brigitta of Sweden.

Succession in Denmark and Norway

Shortly after the marriage, Margaret's young brother died, leaving her a likely successor to Denmark's throne. Haakon and Margaret had one son, Olaf, born in 1370. Also in 1370, Valdemar signed the Peace of Straisund with the Hanseatic League, ceding significant control in Denmark to them -- a challenge for Margaret and her successors.

In 1374, Magnus died, leaving Haakon as the sole king of Norway, and Margaret his queen consort there. Swedish nobles elected Albrecht of Mecklenburg instead of Haakon as king of Sweden and successor to Magnus. Haakon worked nevertheless to be named king of Sweden.

Before Margaret's father, Valdemar, died in 1375, he had named as his heir another grandson, Albrecht, son of Margaret's late sister Ingeborg (and a relative of Albrecht of Mecklenburg). Margaret convinced the Danish nobles to elect her 5-year-old son, Olaf, the new king instead of Albrecht, and Olaf assumed the kingship of Denmark in 1376, with his mother as regent.

King Olaf II of Denmark, IV of Norway

Haakon died in 1380. Margaret worked in Norway and won her son's election as ruler of that kingdom, with her as regent, beginning 400 years of Norway being ruled from Denmark. Margaret also had him proclaimed "true heir of Sweden," though Albrecht of Mecklenburg still remained king of Sweden.

When Olaf came of age at 1385 and Margaret was no longer his regent, she continued to advise him closely, including pursuing the crown of Sweden.

Margaret as Ruler

When Olaf died unexpectedly in 1387, Margaret was named Denmark's ruler, "all powerful lady and mistress and the Kingdom of Denmark's Regent," by the Rigsråd. The next year, Norway named her their "reigning queen." In Sweden, Albrecht was increasingly unpopular, and the nobles deposed him in 1389, making Margaret their ruler, "all powerful lady of Sweden."

Without any surviving children, Margaret turned to finding an heir, and selected a grandson of her late sister Ingeborg, Erik of Pomerania, born about 1381. (She had his name changed to the more Scandinavian name "Erik" from his birth name of Bogislav.) He was named king of Norway, ruling with Margaret, in 1389. In 1396, Sweden and Denmark did the same.

The Kalmar Union

Margaret attempted to bring together the countries in a tighter union, and in 1397, she had Erik crowned at the Swedish castle of Kalmar as king of all three countries, in one "eternal" union with the three countries governed separately adnd with foreign policy under the king. The document was not actually ratified in the three kingdoms, and the term "union" was not used at the time.

Margaret's Role in Erik of Pomerania's Kingship

In 1402, Margaret arranged the marriage of Erik with a daughter of England's King Henry IV, Philippa. Henry also urged that Erik's sister be married to his heir, the future Henry V, to bring the Scandinavians into an alliance that would be on the side of England in the Hundred Years' War with France, but Margaret preferred to keep the Scandinavians uninvolved with the conflict. The marriage of Erik and Philippa finally happened in October of 1406.

At about the time the marriage negotiations began, in 1402, a young man wandering in Poland was thought by some to be Margaret's son, Olaf. Margaret offered to interview him, saying if it was her son, she would accept him. But he could not speak Danish and admitted he was born a peasant in Prussia. He was burned at the stake, wearing a mock crown, for what was considered an attack on the monarch.

Though Erik of Pomerania was the crowned king and was already 15 at Kalmar, Margaret herself was the de facto ruler until she died in 1412, apparently of plague. Erik ruled until he was deposed in 1439 (by Denmark and Sweden) and 1440 (by Norway), at which time he returned to Pomerania as its Duke.