Margaret I of Denmark
Margaret I was married at ten to the king of Norway, was regent for a son who was king of Denmark at five and of Norway at ten, and when the boy died at seventeen had herself made ruler of both kingdoms and then took Sweden by war, so that in 1397 at Kalmar her adopted heir was crowned king of all three; she governed the union herself for fifteen years and it lasted, in law, until 1523. She was born in 1353, the daughter of Valdemar IV of Denmark, and was married in 1363 to Haakon VI of Norway, the son of the Swedish king, as part of her father's diplomacy. Her son Olaf was born in 1370. Valdemar died in 1375 leaving no son, and she had the Danish council elect the five-year-old Olaf over the claims of her elder sister's line, with herself as regent. Haakon died in 1380 and Olaf was king of Norway too. When Olaf died suddenly in August 1387 the Danish council chose her within the week as sovereign lady and guardian of the realm, a title made up for a woman, and the Norwegian council followed in 1388. The Swedish nobles, at odds with their German king Albert of Mecklenburg over the land he was giving his countrymen, offered her Sweden on terms, and at Falköping in February 1389 her army captured Albert and his son. Stockholm held out for the Germans until 1398. She adopted her sister's grandson, Eric of Pomerania, and had him acclaimed in each kingdom in turn, and in June 1397 at Kalmar he was crowned king of Denmark, Norway and Sweden together, with a letter of union whose legal force has been argued about since. The point was that she went on ruling, reclaiming crown lands the nobles had taken, keeping the great offices empty, and appointing Danes and Germans to Swedish castles, which the Swedes remembered. She died of plague on a ship in Flensburg harbour in October 1412, in the middle of buying Schleswig back, and Eric, who lacked every quality she had, lost Sweden within thirty years.
- Lived: 1353 CE – 1412 CE
- Nationality: Danish
- Roles: queen, monarch, regent
