|
|
|
|
Christian IV of Denmark
|
| |
|
| |
Christian IV (12 April, 1577 – 28 February, 1648) was the king of Denmark and Norway from 1588 until his death. He is sometimes referred to as Christian Firtal in Denmark and Christian Kvart or Quart in Norway.
son of Frederick II, king of Denmark and Norway, and Sofie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, he was born at Frederiksborg castle in 1577, and succeeded to the throne on the death of his father (April 4 1588), attaining his majority on August 17 1596.
Discussion
Ask a question about 'Christian IV of Denmark' Start a new discussion about 'Christian IV of Denmark' Answer questions from other users |
Encyclopedia
Christian IV (12 April, 1577 – 28 February, 1648) was the king of Denmark and Norway from 1588 until his death. He is sometimes referred to as Christian Firtal in Denmark and Christian Kvart or Quart in Norway.
Biography
The son of Frederick II, king of Denmark and Norway, and Sofie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, he was born at Frederiksborg castle in 1577, and succeeded to the throne on the death of his father (April 4 1588), attaining his majority on August 17 1596. On November 30 1597 he married Anne Catherine of Brandenburg, a daughter of Joachim Friedrich, margrave of Brandenburg and duke of Prussia. The queen died fourteen years later, after bearing Christian six children. Four years after her death the king privately wedded a handsome young gentlewoman, Kirsten Munk, by whom he had twelve children — a connection which was to be disastrous to Denmark.
It is believed that he, counting both legitimate and illegitimate, had at least 26 children, quite possibly more.
He descended, through his mother's side, from king Hans of Denmark, thus uniting the senior branch' descent to the crown.
He is frequently remembered as one of the most remarkable Danish kings, having initiated many reforms and projects, and ruling for just under sixty years.
Reformer
Despite courtly life, he found time for work of the most various description, including a series of domestic reforms (see History of Denmark). He also did much for the national armaments. New fortresses were constructed under the direction of Dutch engineers. The Danish navy, which in 1596 consisted of but twenty-two vessels, in 1610 rose to sixty, some of them being built after Christian's own designs. The formation of a national army was more difficult. Christian had to depend mainly upon hired troops (mercenaries) as was common practice in the times—well before the establishment of standing armies—augmented by native peasant levies recruited for the most part from the peasantry on the crown domains.
Christian first initiated the policy of expanding Denmark's overseas trade, as part of the mercantilist wave that was sweeping Europe. Denmark's first colony was established at Tranquebar, or Trankebar, on India's southcoast in 1620. He also assigned the privilege establishing the Danish East India Company. This was in large part the beginning of Danish colonial empire.
The Kalmar War
His first experiment with his newly organized army was successful. In the war with Sweden, generally known as the Kalmar War (1611-1613) because its chief operation was the Danish capture of Kalmar, the eastern fortress of Sweden, Christian compelled King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden to give way on all essential points at the Treaty of Knäred (January 20, 1613).
He now turned his attention to Germany. His objectives were twofold: first, to obtain control of the great German rivers— the Elbe and the Weser— as a means of securing his dominion of the northern seas; and secondly, to acquire the secularized German prince-bishoprics of Bremen and Verden as appanages for his younger sons.
He skillfully took advantage of the alarm of the German Protestants after the Battle of White Mountain in 1620, to secure coadjutorship of the See of Bremen for his son Frederick (September 1621). A similar arrangement was reached in November at Verden. Hamburg was also induced to acknowledge the Danish overlordship of Holstein by the compact of Steinburg in July 1621.
The Thirty Years' War
The growing ascendancy of the Catholics in North Germany in and after 1623 almost induced Christian, for purely political reasons, to intervene directly in the Thirty Years' War. For a time, however, he stayed his hand, but the urgent solicitations of the western powers, and, above all, his fear lest Gustavus Adolphus should supplant him as the champion of the Protestant cause, finally led him to plunge into war against the combined forces of the emperor and the League, without any adequate guarantees of co-operation from abroad. On May 9 1625 Christian quit Denmark for the front. He had at his disposal from 19,000 to 25,000 men, and at first gained some successes; but on August 27 1626 he was utterly routed by Tilly at Lutter-am-Barenberge, and in the summer of 1627 both Tilly and Wallenstein, ravaging and burning, occupied the duchies and the whole peninsula of Jutland. In his extremity Christian now formed an alliance with Sweden (January 1 1628), whereby Gustavus Adolphus pledged himself to assist Denmark with a fleet in case of need, and shortly afterwards a Swedo-Danish army and fleet compelled Wallenstein to raise the siege of Stralsund. Thus the possession of a superior sea-power enabled Denmark to tide over her worst difficulties, and in May 1629 Christian was able to conclude peace with the emperor at Lübeck, without any diminution of territory.
|
| |
|
|
