Haakon VI of Norway

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Haakon VI of Norway : biography

1340 – 1380

Haakon VI of Norway ( ) was the King of Norway from 1343 until his death in 1380 and the King of Sweden between 1362 and 1364, co-ruling with his father Magnus IV (Magnus VII of Norway), until they were both deposed there by Haakon’s cousin Albert of Mecklenburg and a clique of exiled Swedish noblemen led by Bo Jonsson Grip.http://snl.no/.nbl_biografi/H%C3%A5kon_6_Magnusson/utdypning

Military policies

Throughout the reign of Haakon, the Norwegian military was extensively reformed. The military structure was altered from that of the traditional leidang peasant conscription to under the direct control of loyal Norwegian lords. His Norwegian predecessor had pursued a domestic policy to establish a functional civil service in his realm, also extending to the military. This was however not continued by Haakon who elected to transfer more power and military responsibilities on to loyal lords. As a consequence, Haakon would be able to field much larger armies, but it became increasingly expensive to maintain this system. Because of the war against Sweden and the aggressive Norwegian policies in the east, Haakon had to mortgage and borrow money at an unprecedented scale to maintain his armies, and had to increasingly rely on the Norwegian nobility and the rich German merchants. The substantial rise in foreign debt would eventually come to shift the political power in Norway, and gradually weakened the power of the monarch.

Danish succession

On 24 October 1375, Valdemar succumbed to illness and died at Gurre Castle in Zealand. The new monarch would have to be elected by the Danish Council of the Realm and any potential candidate had to be approved by the Hanseatic League. As Valdemar left no immediate clear successor to the throne, two candidates were put forward for the election: Haakon and Margaret appointed their only son, Olav, as a claimant to the throne.Margrete Valdemarsdatter" (in Norwegian). Norsk biografisk leksikon. Retrieved 28 August 2012. In opposition to this, Henry of Mecklenburg (the son of Duke Albert II of Mecklenburg) and Ingeborg of Denmark (another daughter of Valdemar) in turn appointed their son, Albrecht,Nordman, Viljo Adolf in Albrecht Herzog von Mecklenburg König von Schweden, Suomalaisen Tiedeakatemian Tuomituksia B:44:1, Suomalaisen Tiedeakatemia, Helsinki, 1939 p 334. as a rival claimant.Our Family History and Ancestry. "Ingeborg Valdemarsdatter, Prinsesse of Denmark". Retrieved 2011-05-05.Cawley, Charles, DENMARK, Medieval Lands, Foundation for Medieval GenealogyMargaret of Denmark By Mary Hill. Page 52-55 Haakon, having already lost a substantial portion of his Swedish realm to the Germans, would go to great and costly lengths to assure his son’s election as the new King of Denmark. To accomplish this, Haakon borrowed large sums of money and offered it to the Hanseatic League in return for the League’s neutrality in the upcoming election, which they promptly accepted. In addition to this, the Danish Council of the Realm was more inclined to a potential union and alliance with Norway, largely because of anti-German sentiments within the Council, and the general reluctance to have a second German ruler in Scandinavia. On 3 May 1376, Olav was elected as the King of Denmark in Slagelse, succeeding his grandfather. The election proved to be a major victory for Haakon and his foreign ambitions, curtailing the German influence while greatly expanding his own over much of Scandinavia.Nordberg (2001), p. 81

Marriage

In 1359, the young Princess Margaret of Denmark, the daughter of the Danish King Valdemar IV, was bethroted to Haakon in a marriage contract intended to be a part of a larger alliance treaty between Magnus and Valdemar. It was presumed that Valdemar would assist Magnus in the aforementioned rebellion, started by his eldest son Eric, by invading the province of Scania, which had been pawned by King Christopher II of Denmark before his death in 1332 to Magnus and had been under Swedish rule since. Valdemar in turn would receive Helsingborg Castle as compensation for that assistance,a b c Etting, p. 13. but in June 1359 Eric unexpectedly died of the plague and Magnus tried to renege on his promise to return the castle to the Danish Crown. Valdemar was far too ambitious a ruler to have his plan to reassemble the Danish kingdom fall into pieces, and so he proceeded to invade Scania in 1360 with his mercenary army. The Danish forces quickly occupied the province and started besieging Helsingborg Castle, eventually forcing the Swedish garrison to surrender and capturing the castle. When the castle was captured, Valdermar had virtually regained control over all of Scania, and when Magnus proved to be unable to retake the province by force, it simply passed back to Danish rule.Fletcher Pratt (1950), The Third King, a biography of Valdemar Atterdag Further strife between the two kingdoms would put the marriage contract on hold for a few years until the two parties eventually reconciled in 1363; Haakon and Margaret were married that year in the Copenhagen Cathedral.http://snl.no/.nbl_biografi/Margrete_Valdemarsdatter/utdypning Margaret’s marriage was broadly considered to be a part of the Nordic power struggle.