Christian II

On January 25, 1559, Christian II, King of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, died. He once united with farmers and citizens to oppose the dictatorship of the aristocracy, but was eventually overthrown by the aristocrats and imprisoned. He fought wars abroad for years and was imprisoned for 27 years.

Christian II was the son of Hans, King of Denmark, and his mother was Christina, the granddaughter of Frederick II, Elector of Saxony. Born in Niburg.

Christian was appointed governor of Norway by his father from 1506 to 1512, where he demonstrated outstanding managerial skills. Christian was close to civilians, which was not a good thing in his era, especially in Denmark, where aristocrats were powerful. In 1507, he fell in love with a humble Norway girl of Dutch descent, Divick Sibretstedt. The girl became his mistress, which later had serious consequences.

After the death of King Hans in 1513, Christian faced off head-to-head with dignitaries from three Nordic countries at a conference of aristocrats in Copenhagen. According to the Kalmar Alliance, Christian has the right to become king of Denmark, Sweden and Norway. However, aristocrats and prelates in all three countries were worried about Christian's autocratic and centralized tendencies as governor of Norway, and they struggled to retain their power. Senior representatives from Denmark and Norway emphasized that the thrones of both kingdoms were elected rather than hereditary, and made clear that they reserved their right to choose Christian's successor. The Swedes, on the other hand, stated that they did not accept Christian as king at all. Sweden had long been ruled directly by locally produced regents rather than by the King of the Kalmar Union, and was in effect outside the Kalmar Union; they wanted to be freed completely. The decision on the Swedish throne was postponed. After reaching a maximum compromise, Christian II inherited the thrones of Denmark and Norway.

The distinctive feature of Christian II's rule was that he relied on the power of small aristocrats and citizens to destroy the rule of large aristocratic oligarchs in Denmark. This incident was in part related to what happened to Divick Sibrishdart, even at the expense of her life.

On August 12, 1515, Christian II married Isabella of Burgundy, daughter of Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I. However, he continued to maintain his relationship with Defoe after his marriage, which not only aroused the anger of the Austrian and Spanish royal families, but also brought misfortune to the poor girl, who died of poisoning in 1517.

Christian II found an excuse to attack the aristocratic group after his lover was killed. He executed a prominent nobleman, Tobin Okse, who might have killed Defoe out of fear of deteriorating relations with the Habsburgs, although there was no conclusive evidence. Christian was determined to carry out authoritarian reforms and weakened most of the power of the aristocratic State Council by supporting a group of petty bourgeoisie in 1517.

One of Christian II's main advisers in his authoritarian reforms was Defoe's mother Siegbritt. This woman was quite talented, and her business acumen helped the king formulate economic policies. Christian II first appointed her responsible for collecting channel royalties from ships passing through the Strait of Sundh, and later entrusted her with the finances of the entire kingdom. Sigbrit herself is a petty bourgeois, and the core spirit of the policies she promotes is to improve the status of the Danish middle class and give them more opportunities to expand capital. She soon became the leader of a middle-class activist group that fought directly against the Privy Council, which was dominated by feudal aristocrats. It is conceivable that the aristocrats blamed Christian II for their containment and all their bad conditions; but Moons Joyer, the leader of the Privy Council, still insisted on supporting the king.