WHEN Christian VI. died, his eldest son, Frederick V., ascended the throne. He was a man of limited intelligence, but of a kindly disposition. By his affability and his taste for the language of the country he stood in sharp contrast with his late father, and he and his lovely young queen, Louisa, daughter of George II. of England, soon won the hearts of the people. He abolished all the harsh ordinances against amusements, the national theatre was opened again, and Ludvig Holberg had the pleasure, in his old age, to again see his comedies played and received with great applause. The change was at first beneficial, especially as long as Queen Louisa lived; but, after her death, in 1751, when her place had been taken by Juliana Marie of Brunswick, the liberal tone at court often degenerated into giddiness and license, and, in an attempt to imitate the French manners, a luxury was introduced which was too expensive for the ordinary resources of the crown.

The reign of Frederick V. was, like that of his father, peaceful, although a war with Russia seemed very imminent, when one of the Holstein-Gottorp princes, Charles Peter Ulrik, had ascended the throne of Russia, under the title of Peter III., and laid claim to a part of the duchy of Schleswig. A Russian army was sent into Mecklenburg with orders to advance on Holstein, where an army of 70,000 Danish and Norwegian soldiers had been drawn together. The armies lay within a few miles of each other, when the conflict was suddenly averted by the news that Peter III. had been deposed, and, shortly afterward, murdered by his wife (July, 1762). The empress, Catherine II., who succeeded her husband, had always been averse to the war, and a treaty of peace was concluded with her, principally as the result of the able diplomacy of the king’s adviser, Count Johan Hartvig Bernstorf.

The great preparations for this threatened conflict had, however, necessitated an increase of taxation. The so-called “extra-tax” was felt as a great burden; every person above twelve years of age had to pay a tax of one Rigsdaler (about fifty-five cents) per year. This was especially felt as a burden by the common people in the districts around Bergen, where the fisheries had been a failure, and a revolt was the result. About 4,000 peasants armed themselves and made an assault upon the city, maltreated the magistrates, and plundered about 8,000 Rigsdalers of the public means. Quiet was soon restored, and the participants in the revolt were punished. A few years afterward the “extra-tax” was abolished.

A great deal was done during this reign for the promotion of science and art, trade, manufactures and agriculture. At Kongsberg a mineral school was established and two hundred German experts employed as teachers. The bishop at Throndhjem, Johan Gunnerus, Rector Gerhard SchÖning, and the Danish scholar, Peter Suhm (who had married the daughter of a merchant at Throndhjem), established the Royal Academy of Sciences in Throndhjem. A free school of mathematics, afterward reorganized as the Norwegian Military Academy, was founded in Christiania.

Frederick V., who shortened his life by all kinds of excesses, died in his forty-third year, January 14, 1766. He left a public debt of about twenty millions. By his first wife he had one son, Christian, and three daughters; his second wife became the mother of Prince Frederick.