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Christian IV (1577-1648) was Denmark's most renowned king. He led his country through a period of political and cultural ascendancy, but also mired it in a costly war against Sweden and the devastating Thirty Years' War in Germany.
At Frederiksborg Castle in Hillerod, Denmark, the future Christian IV was born on April 12, 1577, to Frederick II, king of Denmark and Norway, and Sophia of Mecklenburg. The young boy was given an intense education typical of other European princes. Among his many subjects, he was instructed in the art of fencing, dancing, military command, and navigation; he also studied Latin, German, French, and Italian. In 1588, when 11-year-old Christian's father died, the young prince became king. He would have to wait until 1596, however, until he reached 19 - the age of majority - for his coronation and the start of his personal rule. Meanwhile, Denmark was governed by a regency from the rigsraad ("privy council"), the very body which Christian IV would later battle for his political authority.
In 1597, Christian married Anna Catherine of Brandenburg. Though she died in 1612, she bore him a son and heir, the future King Frederick III. Three years later, Christian remarried, this time to a Danish woman named Kirsten Munk who was to bear him 12 children. But Christian eventually banished his second wife from the court for having committed adultery. Considering Christian's own reputation for promiscuity, this charge was, at the very least, incongruous.
Christian's personal life was renowned for his gambling and heavy drinking. An English visitor to the Danish court once noted, "Such is the life of that king, to drink all day and lye with a whore every night." And such was the influence of Christian's personality that the customary heavy drinking of the Danish court became fashionable among other Protestant princes in Germany. Nevertheless, Christian attended to matters of much more seriousness, and his influence went well beyond mere indulgence.
Throughout his career, Christian's greatest concern was the protection and invigoration of the power of his crown. The aristocracy in Denmark had put itself in an enviable political position with respect to the monarchy. The rigsraad, which was dominated by the wealthy landowning nobility, held extensive powers, including the right to approve extraordinary taxes and the right to veto the declaration of war. Moreover, the regency government prior to 1596 had been reasonably successful in its management of finances, and landowners generally benefited handsomely from an overall prosperity in Denmark. Thus, from the outset of his personal rule, Christian was challenged to defend his authority against a powerful and wealthy nobility.
Christian undertook many projects aimed at improving the economy of his country. He realized that developing his financial strength was the most effective method of preserving his political independence. Among his many activities, the sound management of his personal finances was to be his most resounding success. Through land speculation (with many interests in north Germany) and by lending money, he accrued a vast personal fortune. In this way, he was able to bind much of the Danish nobility to him politically. For example, from 1618 to 1624 (a time of economic crisis) he provided much needed capital. It was his wealth (or, his "ten tons of gold," as it was called), and the corresponding political independence that it afforded him, that was to make Christian one of the most powerful figures in early 17th-century Europe.
Crucial to Christian's personal finances was the control of narrow Danish waterways that gave the only access in and out of the Baltic Sea. Where the Sound is narrowest, the Danes had erected a number of castles, including one at Elsinore (Helsingör), as elaborate tollbooths on one of Europe's busiest channels. For 428 years, ships had to pay Sound dues ("a toll") and dip their flag as they passed the castle. Much to the chagrin of neighboring countries, whenever Denmark needed revenue, it raised the tolls. In 1599, Christian headed to North Cape: in part, to exploit Danish holdings in the far north of Norway; in part, to prevent the discovery of a northerly sea route to Russia, which could bypass the Sound and weaken Danish control. Any such opening threatened both Denmark and Christian personally.
At this time, Sweden clearly presented the greatest challenge to Denmark. Up to 1570 (the Treaty of Stettin), Sweden had struggled to escape Danish control. Now, Sweden's growing military strength (including direct involvement in the eastern Baltic) actively threatened Danish dominance. Equally, an increasing Swedish presence (especially from 1606-09) jeopardized Denmark's presence in Norway. Despite the Danish Council's desire to maintain peace with Sweden and to pursue an isolationist foreign policy with respect to the maelstrom of European politics, Christian spent a considerable amount of money preparing for war. He built up a significant naval force and fortified important cities and fortresses along the Swedish frontier.
War with Sweden
Finally, on April 4, 1611, Christian had his way, and Denmark declared war on Sweden. Very quickly, the important holding of Kalmar fell to the Danes. By October, upon the death of the Swedish king Charles IX, it appeared that a precarious situation would be inherited by his successor, the illustrious Gustavus Adolphus. Over the next two years, Denmark continued to fight Sweden in order to protect its powerful interests in the Baltic and in the north. The Dutch, in whose interest it was to stabilize the Baltic and ultimately to free the Sound from the Danish monopoly, intervened to end the fighting and act as intermediaries between the belligerents. At the Peace of Knäred (January 1613), Sweden agreed to renounce its expansionist intentions and pay exacting reparations to Christian personally.
Christian was in a very favorable position. Having successfully controlled Danish foreign policy and established himself as a military figure of some note, he now enjoyed unprecedented fortune and independence. Yet his influence was not restricted to the Baltic. Christian was also the Duke of Holstein. As such, he held a great deal of influence among the other Lutheran princes of Germany. Thus, the Dutch and their allies increasingly hoped to involve this wealthy and newly powerful force in the Protestant struggle on behalf of Frederick V of the Palatinate against the emperor Ferdinand II and Catholic hegemony in Germany.
In 1624, when Gustavus Adolphus was invited to lead an allied army against the forces of the Catholic emperor, Ferdinand II, Christian perceived this as a threat to his position. On January 1625, he rashly offered to raise and lead an army himself. This he did over the protests of his Council and without securing the necessary assurance of support from his allies. Assuming the role of Defender of the Protestant Faith, he led an army of about 20,000 mercenary soldiers south in June of that year.
At the time, it looked as if the Danish invasion of Germany would be straightforward. Yet unbeknownst to Christian, Ferdinand II had brought into his employ the wealthy Albrecht von Wallenstein, who had assembled an army of about 30,000 men. Threatened by this additional force, Christian was compelled to withdraw.
Defeated by Catholic Forces
The king lost much of his international support, but at the Hague Convention, in December 1625, the English and Dutch agreed to continue to back Christian's army. The next year, at a time when Wallenstein was distracted, Christian invaded again. By August he had set forth from Wolfenbuttel. After days of heavy fighting in the rain at Lutter-am-Barenberg, Christian was soundly defeated, losing half his men and artillery. After this disastrous defeat, Denmark was left vulnerable to foreign invasion. In a strangely matter-of-fact tone, however, Christian's diary entry for August 26, 1626, reads simply: "Fought with the enemy and lost. The same day I went to Wolfenbuttel."
Thereafter, Christian's fortunes did not improve greatly, whereas Wallenstein met with many successes against the Protestant forces, including a decisive rout of Christian's army at Wolgast in September 1628. While awaiting Christian's surrender, Wallenstein invaded and occupied the entire Jutland peninsula, enabling Ferdinand to issue enormous demands (Edict of Restitution). Christian was to renounce any claims to territory in Germany, cede all of Jutland, and pay overwhelming reparations. For their support of Christian, the dukes of Mecklenburg were stripped of their titles. These were given to Wallenstein.
All this, Christian and the Protestant cause could not allow. Even Sweden joined in a defensive alliance with the king early in 1629. Together, these reluctant allies successfully defended Straslund against Wallenstein in 1628. But Denmark was desperate for peace and reentered negotiations with Ferdinand II. By the Treaty of Lübeck of May 1629, Christian was allowed to regain his lost territories. Nevertheless, his military failures left him exhausted and utterly discredited.
This Danish phase of the Thirty Years' War cost Christian and Denmark enormously. The forests of Jutland were devastated, finances were drained, and the resentful population was forced to pay the occupying imperial army for which they suffered greatly. Heavy taxation, epidemic disease, and a bad harvest added to the people's misery. Personally, Christian no longer had the luxury of his fortune. Yet his ambitions were not satisfied, and he hoped to consolidate his position and to continue to spend on defense.
The Council was willing to raise more money for its king, but insisted that it control the collection and distribution. Initially, Christian was furious with any such attempt to restrict his authority and demanded an unconditional offer, even threatening to refuse to abide by the peace with Ferdinand II. Since further war would have been devastating, the Council agreed. By 1637, however, Christian had spent the new funds and was forced to accept the fact that the aristocracy would have significant control over the administration of taxes. To counter this dependence, Christian attempted to extract more revenue from the Sound tolls. Not surprisingly, this antagonized Sweden, whose power had grown notably after successful intervention in Europe from 1630. Once again Denmark was in serious danger.
To make matters worse, Christian again interfered in German affairs. He managed to persuade Ferdinand II to use him as the mediator between the German Empire and Sweden. If necessary, Christian suggested that he might even join forces with the Empire. In exchange, Christian hoped to gain control of Hamburg and the mouth of the Elbe, which his naval forces blockaded early in 1643. At the same time, Christian made overtures to Poland, Russia, and the German Emperor about an offensive alliance that he hoped to direct against Sweden. Under such provocation and pressure, Sweden declared war on Denmark on May 25, 1643.
Soon the Swedish forces in Bohemia headed toward Denmark and, in 1644, Jutland again was easily overrun. In a disastrous naval battle, in which the Dutch intervened on Sweden's behalf, Christian lost an eye. He also lost the islands of Oesel and Gotland. By the Peace of Bromsbero (August 25, 1645), Sweden won almost complete exemption from the Sound tolls. Moreover, Sweden was given important territory on its side of the Sound, effectively ending Denmark's exclusive control of the straits and its status as a major European power.
The withdrawal of Swedish forces was followed by renewed harvest failure and plague in Denmark from 1647 to 1651. The population fell by almost 20% in this period of general suffering. In February 1648, Christian died a broken man, conceding military defeat to his neighbors and political defeat to the aristocrats of his country. Indeed, his son had to bargain for months just to secure his election to the throne.
Although Christian failed in his attempts to be a great military leader, he was an industrious king who tried to epitomize the ideal of the Renaissance prince. He concerned himself with the minutest details in the administration of his country (not simply with military and naval hardware). He personally set Denmark's mercantilist policies and founded companies. His interests were varied. As a result, he brought many of the early Renaissance cultural influences to Denmark. Numerous cities were founded and built under Christian IV, including Kristiania (modern-day Oslo). He is even credited with considerable architectural achievement. Moreover, he subsidized students and built a residential college in Copenhagen. Notes historian Palle Lauring: "He worked and he gave orders. More than 3,000 letters originating from his hand have been preserved. He was indefatigable. Nothing escaped his attention and he poked his nose into everything. He ruled his two kingdoms rather in the manner of a careful country squire, and completed one building after another in the manner of an efficient building contractor."
Despite his military failures and their destructive legacy, Christian personally brought Denmark into the politics of Europe as a major power and led it through a period of greatness. He was a leader of tremendous influence, and he remains one of Denmark's most popular kings.
Further Reading
Europe and Scandinavia: Aspects of the Process of Integration in the Seventeenth Century, edited by G. Rystad, Scandinavia University Books, 1983.
Lauring, Palle, A History of the Kingdom of Denmark, translated by David Hohnen, HØst and SØn, 1963.
Parker, Geoffrey, Europe in Crisis: 1598-1648. Cornell University Press, 1979.
The Thirty Years' War, edited by Geoffrey Parker, Military Heritage Press, 1987.
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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.
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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 (4 April 1588), attaining his majority on 17 August 1596. On 30 November 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.
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.
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 (20 January 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 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 9 May 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 27 August 1626 he was utterly routed by Tilly in the Battle of 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 (1 January 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.
Christian IV was now a broken man. His energy was temporarily paralysed by accumulated misfortunes. Not only his political hopes, but his domestic happiness had suffered shipwreck. In the course of 1628 he discovered a scandalous intrigue of his wife, Kirsten Munk, with one of his German officers; and when he put her away she endeavoured to cover up her own disgrace by conniving at an intrigue between Vibeke Kruse, one of her discharged maids, and the king. In January 1630 the rupture became final, and Kirsten retired to her estates in Jutland. Meanwhile Christian openly acknowledged Vibeke as his mistress, and she bore him a numerous family. Vibeke's children were of course the natural enemies of the children of Kirsten Munk, and the hatred of the two families was not without influence on the future history of Denmark. Between 1629 and 1643, however, Christian gained both in popularity and influence. During that period he obtained once more the control of the foreign policy of Denmark as well as of the Sound Tolls, and towards the end of it he hoped to increase his power still further with the assistance of his sons-in-law, Corfitz Ulfeldt and Hannibal Sehested, who now came prominently forward.
Even at the lowest ebb of his fortunes Christian had never lost hope of retrieving them, and between 1629 and 1643 the European situation presented infinite possibilities to politicians with a taste for adventure. Christian was no statesman, and was incapable of a consistent policy. He would neither conciliate Sweden, henceforth his most dangerous enemy, nor guard himself against her by a definite system of counter-alliances. By mediating in favour of the emperor, after the death of Gustavus Adolphus in 1632, he tried to minimize the influence of Sweden in Germany, and did glean some minor advantages. But his whole Scandinavian policy was so irritating and vexatious that Swedish statesmen made up their minds that a war with Denmark was only a question of time; and in the spring of 1643 it seemed to them that the time had come.
They were now able, thanks to their conquests in the Thirty Years' War, to attack Denmark from the south as well as the east; the Dutch alliance promised to secure them at sea, and an attack upon Denmark would prevent her from utilizing the impending peace negotiations to the prejudice of Sweden. In May the Swedish Privy Council decided upon war; on 12 December the Swedish Field Marshal Lennart Torstensson, advancing from Bohemia, crossed the southern frontier of Denmark; by the end of January 1644 the whole peninsula of Jutland was in his possession. This totally unexpected attack, conducted from first to last with consummate ability and lightning-like rapidity, had a paralysing effect upon Denmark. Fortunately for his subjects, in the midst of almost universal helplessness and confusion, Christian IV knew his duty and had the courage to do it.
In his sixty-sixth year he once more displayed something of the magnificent energy of his triumphant youth. Night and day he laboured to levy armies and equip fleets. Fortunately too for him, the Swedish government delayed hostilities in Scania till February 1644, so that the Danes were able to make adequate defensive preparations and save the important fortress of Malmö. Torstensson, too, was unable to cross from Jutland to Funen for want of a fleet, and the Dutch auxiliary fleet which came to his assistance was defeated between the islands of Sylt and Rømø on the west coast of Schleswig by the Danish admirals. Another attempt to transport Torstensson and his army to the Danish islands by a large Swedish fleet was frustrated by Christian IV in person on 1 July 1644. On that day the two fleets encountered off Kolberge Heath, SE of Kiel Bay, and Christian displayed a heroism which endeared him ever after to the Danish nation and made his name famous in song and story. As he stood on the quarter-deck of the Trinity a cannon close by was exploded by a Swedish cannonball, and splinters of wood and metal wounded the king in thirteen places, blinding one eye and flinging him to the deck. But he was instantly on his feet again, cried with a loud voice that it was well with him, and set every one an example of duty by remaining on deck till the fight was over.
Darkness at last separated the contending fleets; and though the battle was a drawn one, the Danish fleet showed its superiority by blockading the Swedish ships in Kiel Bay. But the Swedish fleet escaped, and the annihilation of the Danish fleet by the combined navies of Sweden and the Netherlands, after an obstinate fight between Fehmarn and Lolland at the end of September, exhausted the military resources of Denmark and compelled Christian to accept the mediation of France and the United Provinces; and peace was finally signed at Brömsebro on 8 February 1645. Here Denmark had to cede Gotland, Ösel and (for thirty years) Halland while Norway lost the two provinces Jämtland and Härjedalen.
The last years of the king were still further embittered by sordid differences with his sons-in-law, especially with the most ambitious of them, Corfitz Ulfeldt. On 21 February 1648, at his earnest request, he was carried in a litter from Frederiksborg to his beloved Copenhagen, where he died a week later. He was buried in Roskilde Cathedral.
Christian IV was a good linguist, speaking, besides his native tongue, German, Latin, French and Italian. Naturally cheerful and hospitable, he delighted in lively society; but he was also passionate, irritable and sensual. He had courage, a vivid sense of duty, an indefatigable love of work, and all the inquisitive zeal and inventive energy of a born reformer. His own pleasure, whether it took the form of love or ambition, was always his first consideration. In the heyday of his youth his high spirits and passion for adventure enabled him to surmount every obstacle with plan. But in the decline of life he reaped the bitter fruits of his lack of self-control, and sank into the grave a weary and brokenhearted old man.
Christian IV is depicted as a hard-drinking monarch in the Eric Flint and David Weber historical fiction novel 1634: The Baltic War.
Christian IV is featured several times in the book series The Legend of the Ice People.
Christian IV also features prominently in the novel Music and Silence by Rose Tremain, which is primarily set in and around the Danish court in the years 1629 and 1630.
Christian IV is depicted as a foul-natured person, but a good king who did a lot to make his realm flourish, by the Danish alternative music band Mew in their song, "King Christian".
Christian founded a large number of towns and buildings in his countries. These include: Christianshavn, Christiania (now Oslo, modern capital of Norway, founded after a fire destroyed the original city in 1624), Glückstadt (founded as a rival to Hamburg), Christianstad, and Christiansand. Two short-lived towns were Christianspris in Schleswig near Kiel and Christianopel near the Swedish border. Two settlements were constructed for industrial purposes: Kongsberg in Norway to mine a silver deposit and Kobbermølle in Schleswig as a copper mill.
Christian's best known buildings include the observatory Rundetårn, the stock exchange Børsen, the Copenhagen fortress Kastellet, Rosenborg Castle, workers' district Nyboder, the Copenhagen naval Church of Holmen (Holmens Kirke), Proviantgården, a brewery, the Tøjhuset arsenal, and two Trinity Churches in Copenhagen and modern Kristianstad, now known as respectively Trinitatis Kirke and Heliga Trefaldighetskyrkan. Christian converted Frederiksborg Castle to a Renaissance palace and completely rebuilt Kronborg Castle to a fortress. He also founded the Danish East India Company inspired by the similar Dutch company. He is the central figure in the Danish royal anthem Kong Kristian and features in the Danish national play, Elverhøj. He also appears in the alternative history novel 1634: The Baltic War.
With his first wife, Anne Catherine of Brandenburg;
With his second wife, Kirsten Munk, he had 12 children, though the youngest, Dorothea Elisabeth, was rumoured to have been the daughter of Kirsten's lover, Otto Ludwig.;
With his mistress, Kirsten Madsdatter;
With his mistress, Karen Andersdatter;
With his mistress, Vibeke Kruse;
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Christian IV
Born: 12 April 1577 Died: 28 February 1648 |
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| Preceded by Frederick II |
King of Denmark 1588–1648 |
Succeeded by Frederick III |
| King of Norway 1588–1648 |
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