The Kingdom of Denmark

(Today part of: Denmark, Norway, Iceland, region Scania in Sweden)

After the dissolution of the Kalmar Union (1523) Denmark and Norway found themselves in a mutual state in which the latter was reduced to a status of a Danish province, after a revolt in 1536. From the 13^th to the 18^th century the Danes came under a strong German influence, introducing thousands of German loanwords into their language. During the 1530s,Danish elites accepted Lutheranism that was spreading from the northern parts of the Holy Roman Empire. Luther’s ideas of the Reformation could take root thanks to the widespread use of the printing press that made those ideas available in a short time span, and they spread fast due to the enthusiasm for the reforms of the Church, as well as the desires of the king and the nobility loyal to him to appropriate prodigious wealth by confiscating estates and properties of the Catholic Church.

The Church of Denmark was founded as the state church, while all of the Catholic clergy was either forcefully converted, imprisoned, or exiled from the country. Denmark forced Lutheranism on Norway as well. Norwegian literary language disappeared, and was entirely replaced by Danish, which became the language of educated people and the ruling class. Norway suffered during numerous Danish wars, for instance the war against the powerful Hanseatic city of Lübeck, after which the city forever lost its dominance over the Baltics. Also, the period between 1560 and 1720 was marked by increased conflicts between Sweden and Denmark over who was to be the dominant power in the Baltics, and they fought six wars that lasted for years. Nevertheless, Denmark would affirm itself as a great power only at the beginning of the 17^th century.