CHRISTIAN II, Icing of Denmark, Nor way and Sweden: b. Nyborg, Fiinen, 2 July 1481; d. Kallundborg, Zealand, Jan, 1559., He was grandson of Christian I. In 1501 he was named successor to the crown and took part in the government of Norway, which he conducted with great severity. On his accession to the throne in 1513 he signed a capitulation in favor of the privileges of the lay and clerical aristOc his dominions, including the independent administration ofjustice; but all his efforts were bent toward strengthening the royal power, in Sweden, which refused to acknowledge him. To strengthen himself against Steen Sture, the administrator of 'Swe den, who had set himself in opposition to the union of Calmar formed in 1397 between Nor way, Sweden and Denmark, he married Isa bella, sister of Charles V of Germany, in 1515. He had already a mistress called Dyveke, the daughter of a Dutch woman who kept an inn in Bergen, Norway. She exercised a gfeat in fluence over the King, and by her liberal spirit and knowledge of the institutions of Holland tended greatly to improve the administration of his government. She became a sort of prime minister and had great influence in originating those wise laws which gained for this king the love of his subjects. But she incurred the hatred of the nobility, and in 1517 died of poi son. Soon after war broke out with Sweden, and making all the preparations and alliances in his power, Christian sent an army into Swe den commanded by Otto Krtimpen, who de feated the Swedes in the decisive battle of Bogesund (Ulrikehamn), 19 Jan. 1520, in which Steen Sture, the administrator, was killed. Stockholm, under the command of the widow of Sttire, stood a siege of four months, and on 4 November, Christian was crowned king of Sweden. . T Subsequently Sweden revolted under Gusta vus Vasa, who had expelled the Danish garri sons and been proclaimed administrator. To
find the means of defense Christian convoked the Diet toward the close of 1522. Instead of attending it the noblei and prelates assembled at Viborg in Jutland, proclaimed the deposition of Christian, and called his uncle, Frederick, to the throne. Christian fled to the Netherlands to claim the succor of his brother-in-law, Charles V. Gustavus, already master of Swe den, put an end to the union of Calmar in 1523, and was proclaimed king. Christian remained nineyears in exile without obtaining aid from Charles, and then visited England and Ger many and adopted the Reformed faith. At • length, with the assistance of Charles, he equipped a fleet in Holland, landed in Norway in 1531 and was proclaimed king by the Norwe gian Diet, which had refused to recognize Frederick. The commander of the Danish fleet, a bishop, having offered him a safe con duct, he repaired to Copenhagen to negotiate with Frederick, who disavowed the admiral and retained him prisoner. He was confined for 12 years in the Castle of Sonderborg, island of Alsen, in a dungeon of which the door was walled up, the only access being by the win dow, and his only attendant a Norwegian dwarf. In 1544 Christian 'III somewhat re laxed the rigor of his confinement, and in 1549, on renouncing his right to the crown, he was permitted to reside in the Castle of Kallund borg in Zealand, where he was subjected to- a less severs surveillance, until his death in 1559.
. • . _ His misfortunes were chiefly due to the enmity excited by his reforms and his violation of the capitulation entered into at his coronation. Consult Behrmann, 'Kong Christiern II; His toric' (1815).