Kalmar Union

The Kalmar Union was the Scandinavian union that joined Denmark, Sweden and Norway under one crown from 1397 to 1523. It was the work of Margaret I of Denmark, who inherited Denmark and Norway, adopted an heir for Sweden, and had the three realms hail her great-nephew Erik as joint king at Kalmar in 1397. In law the kingdoms stayed separate and sovereign; in fact one monarch directed their wars and marriages, with Denmark first among equals. The union never ran smoothly: Swedish nobles chafed at Danish bailiffs and taxes, broke away under regents, and were dragged back by Danish armies. The end came in blood. Christian II's reconquest of Sweden in 1520 closed with the Stockholm Bloodbath, the execution of eighty rebels after a promised pardon; the survivor Gustav Vasa raised Dalarna, marched into Stockholm in 1523 and was elected king of an independent Sweden. Denmark and Norway stayed yoked as Denmark–Norway for three more centuries, but the three-crown union was over.