Memoirs of Denmark, containing the life and reign of the late K. of Denmark, Norway, &c., Christian V together with an exact account of the rise and progress of those differences now on foot betwixt the two houses of Denmark and Holstein Gottorp ... taken from authentick letters and records / by J.C., Med. D., Fellow of the Royal Society, and a Member of the College of Physicians.

CHAP. II. Of the Origin of the Differences betwixt Denmark, and the House of Holstein Gottorp.

To search to the root of those Diferences, we must go back as far as the Year 1449, when Christian I. Earl of Oldenburgh and Del∣menhorst, being elected King of Denmark and Norway, (and afterwards likewise of Sweden) Adolph his Uncle by the Mother-side, was Duke of Sleswick and Earl of Holstein, the first being a Fief of the Crown of Denmark, at least five hundred Years before, the last a Fief of the Em∣pire. Adolph dying without Issue, King Chri∣stian I. succeeded him both in Sleswick and Hol∣stein, and he dying in the Year 1481, left two Sons behind him, John, who succeeded him in the Northern Kingdoms, and Frederick, who was afterwards elected King of Denmark, in∣stead of the deposed King Christian II. Son to King John. After the Death of King Christian I. Dorothy of Brandenburgh, his Queen Relict, being a very Politick Woman, who had a most powerful Influence upon the Estates of those Dukedoms, and being extreamly fond of her younger Son, pro∣posed to the said Estates, that by vertue of a peculiar Priviledge granted to them by King Christian I. at the time of his Accession to the Throne of Denmark, and afterwards to the

Dukedoms; and according to his Last Will and Testament (the last of which was found defective) it was in their Power to chuse, which of his Sons they liked best, for their Prince. John the elder Brother, at the Assembly of the Estates in the City of Kiel, represented to them that his Mothers Demand in behalf of his younger Brother Frederick, was directly opposite to the Feudatory Laws both of Denmark and the Empire, by vertue of which the eldest Son had an unquestionable Right of Succession, which had been confirmed by the Practice of many Ages. He alledged, and not without great Reason, That the Northern Crowns being then elective, if by a more powerful Interest, or any other Sinister Accident his Posterity should be exclu∣ded from these Crowns, they would be left de∣stitute, whilst the younger House enjoyed the Inheritance of Great and plentiful Territories. These Reasons, founded upon true Matter of Fact, wrought so powerfully upon the Estates (who before were for excluding John from the Succession) that to satisfie in some measure the just Demands of the eldest Brother, and to shew their Passion for the younger, and the Queen his Mother, they pitch'd upon this Expedient, to divide the said two Dukedoms, Share and share alike, betwixt the two Brothers. But their fundamental Constitution, being built upon this Bottom, that they should for ever remain entire, without being divided or dismembred, the said Division was made under certain Conditions of a perpetual Communion and Ʋnion, of which we shall have occasion to speak frequently here∣after.

Duke Frederick being after the Deposition of his Nephew King Christian II. Elected King, the two Dutchies of Sleswick and Holstein were re∣United with the Crown of Denmark, and the States being by this Time made Sensible of the Inconveniences arisen from this Division, (tho' under the strictest Union that could be) obtained from the said King Frederick, immediately after his Accession to the Throne, to Sign an Act, confirmed by his Oath, That those Dutchies should for ever after be one inseparable entire Body. But his Son and Successor King Christian III. a Prince, who had a great deal of Tenderness for his younger Brothers, did, notwithstanding this, fall into the same Error; and in the Year 1544, make another Division of those two Dukedoms betwixt himself and his two Bro∣thers, John and Adolph; the youngest of all, whose Name was Frederick, being provided for by several good Ecclesiastical Benefices, viz. with the Bishopricks of Hildesheim and Sleswick; be∣sides that, he was Co-adjutor to the Archbishop of Bremen: and John the second of the Bro∣thers happening to die not long after without Issue, his Share was again divided betwixt King Christian III. and his Brother Adolph, the Foun∣der of that Branch of the Family, which is call∣ed, the Holstein Gottorp Line.

The whole World being surprised at this Division,* 1.1 contrary to the express Act and Oath of King Frederick I. And the Estates exclaiming against a Procedure, which struck at the very Root of their fundamental Constitution; K. Christian III. thought by founding this Division upon the Basis of a strict Communion and Ʋnion, to satisfy both his Father's Intention and his

own Inclinations, which were bent to favour his Brothers. For this purpose, it was agreed, not only betwixt the King and Kingdom of Den∣mark and the said Dukes, but also betwixt the several Dukes in respect to one another (as the Words of the said Union in the low Saxon Tongue express it in plain Terms) That there should be a perpetual and inseperable Ʋnion in the Dutchy of Sleswick, and a Communion in the Dukedom of Holstein; by vertue of which (besides, that the first remain'd a Fief of the Crown of Denmark) each had his Share allow'd him, which was left to his proper Management in reference to all private and Domestick Affairs, as also to the Inferiour Courts of Justice; But as to what related to the Superiour Courts of Judi∣cature, as to the calling together the States, Impo∣sing and Collecting of Taxes, as also all other Matters relating to the Publick Exercise of the Go∣vernment, all those, I say, were by Vertue of this Union to remain in Community among them; for which purpose it was thought most expedient, to settle a High Court of Judica∣ture, unto which all Appeals were to be brought, and in which Sentence was to be given both in the King and Duke's Names, in which each shou'd Chuse a President in his turn, every other Year.

King Christian III. being Sensible,* 1.2 that with∣out the greatest Injustice in the World, he could not dismember the Dukedom of Sleswick from Denmark, being the Bulwark of that Kingdom on the German side, thought by this Means to Preserve the Soveraignty of it to that Crown, and by the strict Tie and Union of a joint Government and Mutual Defence betwixt them, to provide for the Security of his Poste∣rity.

This is that Famous Union, made in the Year 1533, betwixt the King and Kingdom of Denmark on one side, and the Dukes of Holste∣in on the other, as the present Duke of Hol∣stein Gottorp's Ministers would have it; where∣as the Danes alledge that it was not only made betwixt the King and the Duke's, as King, but also as Duke of Sleswick from those Words in the Patent of the Union; Wherefore we altoge∣ther, one for another, both sides, as likewise each in his own behalf, &c.

This Union was Confirmed,* 1.3 Enlarg'd and Ex∣plain'd in the Year 1623, betwixt Christian IV. King of Denmark, and Frederick Duke of Hol∣stein Gottorp, when, among other things it was expresly Agreed on, That their Posterity should be obliged to renew this Union at the time of their first Accession to the Regency, as is mani∣fest from the Copy of the said Union, Printed by the Duke of Holstein Gottorp's Order, in the Year 1696. This Union and good Intelligence continued for above a Hundred and fifty Years betwixt those two Houses; and, if any Diffe∣rences happened, they were made up by an A∣micable Composition, according to the Tenout of the Union, (of which there are several Instan∣ces) till about fifty Years ago, the Foundation of those Differences were laid by Frederick Duke of Holstein Gottorp, in receding from the Origi∣nal Union, and siding with that Famous Warri∣our, Charles Gustave, King of Sweden.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Ʋnion be∣twixt Den∣mark and Holstein.
• * 1.2

  Reasons for his Ʋnion.
• * 1.3

  The Ʋnion renewed.