The Union of Denmark, Sweden and Norway
Series of personal unions between Denmark, Norway and Sweden between 1397–1523 under one ruling monarch. The union also included the then Norwegian territories of Greenland and Iceland.
The History
When Margaret I became ruler of Denmark, Norway and Sweden (1387-88), it was understood that she should, at the first convenient opportunity, provide the three kingdoms with a king who was to be her nearest kinsman, and in 1389 she proclaimed her sister's grandson, Erik of Pomerania, King of Norway. In 1396 homage was also rendered to him in Denmark and Sweden. Margaret reserving to herself the office of regent during his minority. To weld the three kingdoms still more closely together, Margaret summoned a congress of the three councils of state (the Rigsraads) and other magnates to Kalmar in June 1397, and on Trinity Sunday, June 17, the joint coronation of Erik united the kingdoms.
The proposed act of union divided the three Rifsraads,but according to modern scholarly opinion the document embodying the terms of the union never got beyond the stage of an unratified draft. Margaret objected to the clauses that insisted that each country should retain exclusive possession of its own laws and customs and be administered by its own dignitaries, for she believed that such policies would tend to prevent the complete amalgamation of Scandanavia. She avoided every appearance of an open rupture, however, and succeeding monarchs also avoided stirring up the issue.
The Union experienced its heyday during the first half of the 15th century under the rule of Erik of Pomerania. However the peaceful period did not last too long. It was disturbed mostly by the Swedish nobility that felt that Denmark was too domineering. The bickering from Sweden did not sit well with King Kristian I of Denmark who retaliated by sending a fleet of ships to Stockholm. But he experienced defeat here and the union was somewhat eroded. Some new life was blown into the union by another group of Swedes but it came to a final end with the advent of Gustav Vasa who declared himself king of Sweden in 1523.
Two letters from 1430 were found in which King Erik orders the priests of Vadstena and Kalmar to wear the "banner of the realms" on their robes. The banner is described as "a red cross on top of a yellow field."
The flag remained in this city for 500 years, until destroyed in a World War II bombardment that damaged St. Mary's Church where the flag was kept. A 19th century copy is exhibited at the Danish Museum of National History at Frederiksborg Palace, Denmark. The saint accompanying the Virgin Mary and infant Christ is Saint James the Greater, identified by his scallop shell emblem. Based on the heraldic images shown, the flag must have dated from the reign of King Eric of Pomerania. It was consequently created no earlier than 1396 and no later than the 1420s. The flag was made of coarse linen. All figures and heraldic insignia were created using oil-based paint, and the flag's two sides were imperfectly painted as mirrors of each other.
