Mitteilungen des Österreichischen Staatsarchivs 48. (2000)

LAVERY, Jason: Emperor Maximilian II. and the Danish-Swedish Struggle for Baltic Hegemony 1563–1576

Jason Lavery

policy was motivated by a similar dedication to maintaining domestic stability in that he sought to keep the Empire out of both the French religious wars and the Dutch Revolt.* This concern for the maintenance of internal order motivated Maximilian to take action toward ending the Scandinavian rivalry.

The Scandinavian Powers: From Cooperation to Rivalry

As the Empire entered a period of domestic peace after 1555, relations between the Scandinavian powers, which had been relatively good over the previous two decades, began to worsen. In 1557, King Gustav Vasa of Sweden discovered that his Danish counterpart, King Christian III, had adopted the symbol of the Three Crowns in his coat of arms. Swedish kings first employed this motif in their heraldry in the fourteenth century. King Christian maintained that the symbol belonged to all three kingdoms because the monarchs who ruled all three kingdoms during the Kalmar Union (1397-1520) had used it. Gustav Vasa construed the Danish crown’s adoption of the Three Crowns as a sign of Danish intentions to conquer Sweden.8 9 Kings Christian and Gustav, who died in 1559 and 1560 respectively, left the resolution of the dispute to their sons, Frederik II of Denmark and Erik XIV of Sweden. They set their sights on the bigger question of lordship over the Baltic. After 1559, the Scandinavian kingdoms were preparing to settle their disputes by force of arms. Both monarchs increased the sizes of their armed forces. Erik sent spies into Denmark and Germany. Frederik isolated Sweden by improving relations with the German Hanse cities, Poland and Russia.10 Tensions between the Scandinavian kingdoms were further heightened by their involvement along with Russia and Poland in the scramble for Livonia. At sea, Sweden began in 1562 a campaign of piracy against ships sailing to and from the Livonian port of Narva, the gateway to the Russian market. Swedish piracy was directed particularly against the leading city of the German Hanse, Lübeck.11 Any hope of peace evaporated by the end of May 1563, when Danish and Swedish naval forces clashed off the island of Bornholm.12 On 13 June, Denmark finalized an alliance with Lübeck. On 31 July 1563, the new allies sent Erik XIV a declaration of war which arrived in Stockholm in the

8 This theme forms a significant theme throughout Lanzinner: Friedenssicherung.

9 Landberg, Georg: De nordiska rikena under Brömsebroförbundet. Uppsala 1925, pp. 234-237.

10 Colding, Poul: Studier i Danmarks politiske Historic i Slutningen af Christian lll.s og Begyn- delsen af Frederik ll.s Tid. Copenhagen 1939 pp. 77-96, 374-392; Jensen, Frede P.: Danmarks konflikt med Sverige 1563-1570. Copenhagen 1982 (Skrifter udgivet af det historiske institut ved Kobenhavns universitet 12), pp. 30-32.

11 Attman, Artur: Den ryska marknaden i 1500-talets baltiska politik 1558-1595. Lund 1944, pp. 153-58; Rasmussen, Knud: Die livländische Krise 1554-1561. Copenhagen 1973, pp. 93- 102.

12 Ly beck, Otto, et al: Svenska flottans historia. Stockholm 1942, pp. 169-170.

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