First Swedish–Norwegian union

United Kingdoms of Sweden and Norway Förenade Konungariken Sverige och Norge (Swedish) De forenede Kongeriger Norge og Sverige (Norwegian)
1319-62,–1355-65
Flag Arms of Magnus VII
Status	Personal union
Capital	Stockholm and Oslo
Common languages	Early Old Swedish, Old Norwegian, Early Middle Danish, Renaissance Latin, Middle Icelandic, Old Faroese, Greenlandic Norse, Middle Low German, Finnish, Sami, Greenlandic, Karealian.
Religion	Roman Catholiclism
Government	Personal union
• 1319-1355	Magnus Eriksson (first)
• 1362-1366	Håkan Magnusson and Magnus Eriksson (last)
Establishment
History
• Established	1319-62,
• Disestablished	1355-65
Currency	Swedish Penning, Norwegian Penning
Preceded by Succeeded by Kingdom of Sweden Kingdom of Norway Kingdom of Sweden Kingdom of Norway
Today part of	Sweden, Norway, Finland, Russia, Iceland, Greenland, the Faroe islands, the United Kingdoms

The First Swedish-Norwegian union (Swedish: Den första svensk-norska unionen. Norwegian: Den første svensk-norske union(en)), was a personal union of the separate kingdoms of Sweden (which included large parts of nowadays Finland) and Norway together with Norway’s overseas colonies (including Iceland, Greenland, the Faroe Islands and the northern isles of Orkney and Shetlands). That had a the same monarch. The Union was founded in 1319 and was later on dissolved in 1355, and briefly re-uniting in 1362 and dissolved in 1365.

Establishment

In 1319 the three year old Magnus Eriksson got elected king of Sweden, while also inheriting the throne of Norway, establishing a personal union between the two kingdoms. The three year old king was to young to rule so a treaty was signed in 1319 called the Treaty of Oslo 1319 or The Treaty of Union in Oslo 1319 was a charter that regulated the union between Sweden and Norway during the guardianship of King Magnus Eriksson. It lost its validity when Magnus came of age and took over the government himself.

The Union would become the biggest country in Europe at the time.

Under Guardianship

At first his mother duchess Ingeborg Håkansson, had a predominant influence on the government. In the signing of the Union treaty Ingeborg was present and in the treaty she is mentioned in a way that could be interpreted as giving her certain powers. After the accession of Magnus as king she was included in the Swedish national council. She had received Axvall's castle and a county as maintenance and held court at Varberg's castle, where her son was brought up. She thus had a geographical position of power and at Varberg Castle she surrounded herself with Erik Magnusson's former aides, for example the Danish commander Knut Porse and the van Kyren family from Holstein. Suspicion and contradictions quickly arose between Ingeborg and the others in the riksdag. Drotsen Mats Kettilmundsson was forced to resign and was replaced by Östergötland's lawman Knut Jonsson. At a council meeting in Skara in the summer of 1322, the nobles in the Riksdag promised each other to leave old disputes from the civil war behind and that no one would join forces with Ingeborg without the consent of the entire council.

In order to avoid Danish interference in Swedish politics, the National council tried to have good relations with the Danish king Erik Menved. Ingeborg and the circle around her instead had contact with Erik Menved's enemies in Denmark and made alliances with Erik Menved's enemies in Germany. In the summer of 1321, a treaty was concluded between the heir to the throne Magnus and Henry II of Mecklenburg. The treaty involved the marriage of Magnus's younger sister Eufemia to Duke Albert of Mecklenburg as well as the promise of mutual aid in the event of an attack from Denmark. In secret, they also agreed on a military attack against Scania. One such was prepared in 1322 by Knut Porse, but the plans fell through the cracks.

During the years 1323–1326, the council succeeded in redeeming Ingeborg's castles Axevall, Varberg and Hunehals and took away from her the place in the council, which was led by Drott Knut Jonsson. This example was followed in 1323 by the Norwegians, who appointed Mr. Erling Vidkunsson as governor. The union between the two kingdoms was subsequently reduced according to the Union Treaty to a defense alliance. With the Republic of Novgorod, with which country the relationship had long been tense, peace was concluded in Nöteborg in 1323.

After Guardianship

Magnus came of age in 1331 or 1332 and in 1335 he appoints his marshal and his drots. Marsken, Håkan Mattsson is mentioned as marshal, on 28 February in connection with a will.

On 18 May 1335, King Magnus Eriksson appoints Nils Abjörnsson as his drots, and there his councilors and closest men are mentioned.

Magnus Eriksson was crowned in Stockholm 1336.

Skåneland

In 1332 Scania, Blekinge and Ven was sold to the Union from Count Johan of Holstein, after he expressed dissatisfaction of the Danish parliament an stated he would rather be ruled by the Swedes. The count would start the negotiations with the Swedes and it was agreed that the Swedish king would redeem the pledge for 34,000 marks of silver. Tho The Union bought Skåneland they would not be integrated to the Swedish half as they would be a second personal union to the Swedish-Norwegian Union, Magnus Eriksson would be crowned king of Skåneland in 1332 and the union with Skåneland would later on dissolve in 1360.

After the internal strife in Denmark, Valdemar Atterdag wanted to restore Denmark's former influence and as part of this wanted to regain supremacy over Scania. For Magnus, the acquisition of Skåneland threatened to be a bigger bite than he could swallow. The sum of 34,000 marks was an unheard of sum for the time, and in order to get the sum together, the king was forced to borrow money from the church and take loans from magnates in exchange for pledges. In 1326 the king had pledged Kalmar castle and Kalmar county, all of Östergötland, Gästrikland, Fjärdhundraland, Dalarna, Närke and Värmland. Because the court could no longer receive income from the castle counties, a serious financial crisis was founded that would last for several years to come. The king also levied extra taxes, including tolls at the Scanian fishing villages and tougher demands on the mining industry in the Bergslagen. At the beginning of the 1350s, Magnus Eriksson's city law was issued which, among other things, wanted to limit trade to the cities in order to be able to levy fees.

When the Danish king refused to recognise king Magnus ownership of Skåneland, Magnus would turn to the Pope as a request for confirmation of the purchase but received only evasive answers from him, Magnus got involved, mainly because of his mother's lien on certain castles in Denmark, at war with King Valdemar. Peace between them was only concluded in the autumn of 1343 in Varberg, whereby Valdemar formally renounced all claims to Scania and Halland.

Internal issues

The financial crisis in the kingdom, caused by the loans and pledges, gave rise to an ever-widening gap between the king and the aristocracy. The king criticized the board of trustees for managing the finances so badly that there was no money left when he ascended the throne. The kingdom's finances were also worsened by the growth of the tax-exempt fiefdom as it took over land that had previously paid taxes to the king. Another reason for dissatisfaction was that in 1343–1344 Magnus appointed his eldest son Erik as heir to the throne in Sweden and the youngest son Håkan as heir to the throne in Norway.

In the 1340s the king would be forced to better its relations with the aristocracy in the parliament, so in April 1346 he sent apologies around the country, which stated the king was sorry for the high taxes that was put on them during the buying of Skåneland, as well Magnus would send a big donation to the Birgitta Birgersdotter to establish a monastery foundation in Vadstena.

The Crusades

The two catholic led crusades was led against Novgorod as trying to make the country Catholic instead of Orthodoxy and trying to expand more east and to gain control over Neva which was an important river at the time.

The First Crusade at Novgorod

In the spring of 1348, Magnus Eriksson sent messengers to the nobles of the Republic of Novgorod and urged them to join the Catholic doctrine, if they did not, a large army would invade Novgorod and force them to adopt Catholicism. The answer was that if Magnus Eriksson wanted to discuss matters of faith, he had to travel to Constantinople, where Novgorod's orthodox doctrine came from.

When the Swedish king received the letter, his invasion fleet was already ready at the Novgorod border. On June 24, Nöteborg was besieged and the farmers in the area were forcibly baptized. Those who refused were beheaded, or stabbed to death. The wealthy leadership layer in Nöteborg managed through bribes and the bourgeoisie let themselves be baptized and shaved. On August 6, the king and the other crusaders returned home, having left a small garrison force behind the walls. Already in the late winter of 1349, Novgorod besieged and captured the weakly defended city. The foreigners were killed or captured and the residents' beards were made to grow back.

The Second Crusade

In Sweden, the Black Death had struck in full force. It was understood that God was displeased with something. The king ordered the commoners to appear barefoot in the churches every Friday with a penny for the church to finance another invasion of Novgorod. Through negotiations and threats, King Magnus tried to get the Hansa to agree to a boycott of Novgorod in return for increased privileged trade with Visby and Livonia. Then (in 1350) he set off again with a Swedish force, led by, among others, the knights Israel Birgersson, Lars Karlsson , Magnus Gislesson, the men-at-arms Bengt Algotsson and Sune Håkansson, to the east and recaptured Nöteborg. As before, he had the inhabitants forcibly baptized and left behind a troop of soldiers. The city was recaptured soon after and the soldiers were killed. The king himself and the military leadership fled back to Sweden.

Expansion of the North

In 1350; Swedish expansion of the North to connect the other half of the kingdom (which was Österland or also known as Finland) by The Gulf of Bothnia, which succeed.

Dissolution

Håkan Magnusson

In 1343 Håkan Magnusson would be elected king of Norway at three years old, but Magnus Eriksson would keep his rule over Norway til 1355 as when Håkan Magnusson would become an adult, which meant the end of the personal union.

Erik Magnusson

in 1355 Erik Magnusson, Magnus Eriksson's eldest son would recive the Swedish throne, but there was some complications with the throne.

Rebellion

In 1358, Magnus Eriksson had to borrow from the money that was collected in Sweden on behalf of the papal throne, and when he could not repay this at the appointed time, both he and his pledges (several of the kingdom's greats) were threatened with excommunication. Dissatisfaction with the king's policies erupted in the rebellion started by Magnus Eriksson's eldest son, Erik, together with several of the kingdom's great men in 1356.

After a meeting in Jönköping in 1357 between Magnus Eriksson and Erik Magnusson they decided to split the kingdom between father and son. Erik was appointed Skåneland (except northern Halland), Östergötaland, Finland and parts of Småland.

After another resolution Erik was appointed more lands. Södermanland, Västmanland, Dalarna and larger parts of Uppland and Stockholm castle.

The disagreement between them soon broke out again, and Magnus Eriksson then turned to King Valdemar in Denmark with a request for help, and concluded a treaty with him in 1359. However, King Erik and his wife Beatrix died quite suddenly probably by the black death in June 1359, and Magnus Eriksson was thereby left alone again ruler over all of Sweden.

King Valdemar's attack

However, the intended union was thwarted in 1360, when King Valdemar with a sudden attack retook the Scanian lands by force of arms. He continued his successful campaign in 1361 against Gotland, which, unlike Scania, had never belonged to the Danmark. This led to the formation of a large attack coalition against King Valdemar. This included several Hanseatic cities, as well as Sweden and Norway. The Hanseatic reacted strongly to King Valdemar's rise in power, as they were keen that a balance of power should prevail in the Nordic region and that law, order and fixed privileges could be maintained at the Skånemarket, the international trade fair held every autumn on the Falsterbo peninsula. The confederates waged war in Scania in 1368–69 and besieged, among other things, the important royal towns of Helsingborg (Kärnan) and Lindholmen (at Börringesjön in southwestern Scania). Magnus Eriksson had been deposed from the Swedish throne in 1364 and succeeded by Albrecht of Mecklenburg, who personally took part in the war. He resided during the summer and autumn of 1368 at Falsterbohus and then used the title "lord of the land of Skåne". In November 1369, the warring parties reached an agreement, which could be ratified by the peace treaty of Stralsund in 1370. Denmark loyal to the king had suffered a clear but hardly devastating military defeat.

Re-unification

In 1362 Håkan Magnusson. Was elected king of Sweden after his father king Magnus was thrown in prison. Later on Magnus and Håkan would become co-regents.

Second Dissolution

The war that started against Valdemar did not lead to any result and already in the autumn of 1362 peace negotiations began. In the winter, the situation changed completely because Håkan, probably in the hope of thereby regaining Scania, married Valdemar's daughter, Margareta (April 1363). Thereby the engagement entered into by the nobles on his behalf with Elizabeth of Holstein was broken. At the same time, several of the Swedish great men were also driven into exile. These then turned to Duke Albrekt the Great of Mecklenburg and offered the Swedish crown to his son, Albrekt. In November 1363, he arrived with an army in Stockholm, was praised by its citizens and was elected king in February 1364 at Mora stenar. Magnus Eriksson and his son could not put up any effective resistance, so that already in July 1364 they held no more than Västergötland, Värmland and Dalsland of Sweden proper. In the spring of 1365, they did seek to regain what was lost, but were defeated in March 1365 in the battle of Gataskogen, near Enköping, where Magnus Eriksson was captured.

Magnus Eriksson’s last years

Magnus Eriksson was held captive in Stockholm’s Castle til 1371. Magnus would gain his freedom in 1371 by ceding the crown to Albrecht. In exchange, he received Skara Diocese as a maintenance county. He spent his last years with his son Håkan in Norway, where he drowned during a sea voyage.