Background
Margaret was born on March 15, 1353; one of several children born to Waldemar and his wife Helvig, who was the sister of the Duke of Schleswig.
Margaret was born on March 15, 1353; one of several children born to Waldemar and his wife Helvig, who was the sister of the Duke of Schleswig.
When Waldemar died in 1375, Margaret advanced the candidacy of her young son for the throne of Denmark. There was at the time one other possible heir: Albrecht, the son of Margaret's deceased older sister. Though Waldemar IV had arranged for Albrecht to succeed him, two factors helped Margaret's determination to establish Olaf as king: (1) Albrecht offended the Danish nobility by assuming the title of king, thereby violating the elective nature of that office; and (2) in exchange for commercial privileges in Norway and Denmark, Margaret convinced the Hanse towns not to intervene on Albrecht's behalf.
Margaret at age 22 demonstrated great charm, according to contemporary chroniclers, and her political maneuvering resulted in the election of her son Olaf (now Olaf V) to Denmark's kingship in May of 1376. When Margaret's husband King Haakon VI died in 1380, Margaret immediately went to Norway to ensure Olaf's succession to the throne. Thus began a union between Norway and Denmark that was to last for over four centuries until 1814.
Although Margaret was given the power of regency, she was to allow a Norwegian council to rule on her son's behalf when she was in Denmark. With the Hanseatic League controlling important areas of Denmark, the situation there required her energetic attention.
When Olaf reached the age of 15 in 1385, he declared his intention to rule without a regent. Nevertheless, Margaret remained his chief advisor and convinced him to press for the title of king of Sweden, despite the fact that Albrecht of Mecklenburg (uncle of the Albrecht who claimed the Danish throne in 1375) had ruled there since Magnus Eriksson's death in 1374. As Olaf's father had continually agitated to obtain the Swedish throne right up to his death in 1380, Margaret encouraged her son to carry on Haakon's policy.
Olaf's sudden death in 1387 did not dissuade Margaret from her determination to acquire the Swedish throne. Swedish nobles, resentful of the favors their King Albrecht granted to Germans, worked with her in their attempt to depose him. Margaret's position in Denmark and Norway was strengthened in 1387 and 1388 when both countries declared her to be Olaf's rightful heir; the Norwegian council declared her their "mighty lady and rightful ruler. " Soon after, a council of Swedish nobles followed their example, vowing not only to overthrow Albrecht, but to accept Margaret and anyone she designated as her successor. In 1389, Albrecht was defeated, and most of Sweden was in Margaret's control. Stockholm, however, presented a problem for the new queen of Sweden. German Hanse merchants controlled the town and were supplied by a notorious gang of pirates known as the Victuals Brothers. Their illegal activities had been encouraged by the Hanseatic League during its frequent altercations with Denmark. The lawless Brothers were responsible for various atrocities throughout Scandinavia, including the brutal sack of Bergen, Norway. By 1398, Margaret was able to subdue Stockholm, although she was forced to confirm privileges to the Hanse towns.
As Margaret's desire to maintain a united Scandinavian kingdom required her to find an acceptable heir, she chose her great-nephew Erik of Pomerania as her successor. In 1389, the Norwegians proclaimed eight-year-old Erik as king; it required several more years, until 1396, for Margaret to see her adopted son proclaimed king in Denmark and Sweden as well.
Despite their shared king, each Scandinavian country retained its own separate government. In 1397, a meeting was held at Kalmar with hopes of firmly establishing a hereditary state. At this gathering, Erik was officially crowned as king of all the Scandinavian countries. While plans for an even more thorough union were drawn up at Kalmar, they appear not to have been adopted officially by the participants. The first provision of the Kalmar document holds that: "The three kingdoms shall henceforth have one king and shall never be parted. " But Danish and Norwegian seals were not attached to this document, indicating that the dynastic choice of Erik was intended to be a singular event. The Kingdoms preferred to make case-by-case decisions regarding future rulers.
Though King Erik was recognized as old enough to rule in 1400, Margaret - whose concerns remained both dynastic and political - managed affairs until her death in 1412. To maintain close ties with England and thus ensure protection against the Hanseatic naval power, she arranged for the marriage of King Henry IV's daughter Philippa to her adopted son Erik.
By the end of her reign, she came under significant criticism. Critics have said that Margaret strengthened Denmark at the expense of Swedish and Norwegian national aspirations; if so, the more strategic location of Denmark and the vastly greater population perhaps provide the rationale for such a policy. Before 1389, each separate Scandinavian country had a system that entailed the sovereign's actual presence in the realm, making rule intensely personal. Margaret, however, ruled Norway and Sweden from Denmark; thus, she could not provide the important personal element that characterized earlier royal practice.
Margaret died, probably from plague in 1412.
Her administrative policy was to increase the centralizing power of the crown, effected by appointing Danish nobles to oversee her interests in Sweden and Norway and to foster the growth of a united Scandinavian state with its centre of gravity located in Denmark.
Her main goals in foreign affairs were to put an end to German expansion to the north and to extend and secure Denmark’s southern borders
Quotes from others about the person
"It is quite astonishing that a woman became so powerful in a quarter of a year that she lacked nothing in the whole kingdom. "
"Albrecht levied heavy taxes, but Margaret made them still heavier. What he left, she took; the peasant's horse, ox, and cow; in short, all his possessions. "
The normal expectation for noble girls of Margaret's period was that they would serve as participants in diplomatic marriages. This was an expectation Margaret clearly fulfilled. As Haakon's (the younger son of Magnus, King of Norway and Sweden) 10-year-old bride, Margaret lived in Oslo's Akerhus castle, and her guardian, Marta Ulfsdottir, was a daughter of St. Birgitta of Sweden. By the time Margaret was 18, she had borne her only child, Olaf.