FREDERICK II. was succeeded by his son, Christian IV., a king who became very popular with the Norwegians. Christian was only eleven years of age at his father’s death. According to the desire of the late king, his widow, Sophia of Mecklenburg, was to act as regent during Christian’s minority, but the powerful Council of State refused to confirm such regency, and appointed four members of their own body, Chancellor Niels Kaas, Admiral Peder Munk, and the Counsellors Jorgen Rosenkrands and Christopher Walkendorf, as regents and guardians of the prince. Christian was given an excellent education by competent teachers. He early showed great love for the sea, and Admiral Munk caused a little frigate to be built expressly for him, and had it launched in a lake in Jutland, where he was taught by expert sailors how to navigate his ship.

When he was nineteen years old, Christian assumed the government in his own name, and was crowned, with great ceremony, in Copenhagen, 1596. None of the other Danish kings have been so zealous for the welfare of Norway. He frequently visited the country, and once even (1599) sailed along the northernmost coast into the White Sea, as he wished to acquaint himself with the circumstances of the northern boundary conflict with Sweden. On his return voyage he came to Bergen, where he witnessed a trial in court, visited the German wharf and watched the games of the Germans. He attended a jolly party at the apothecary’s, where the guests smashed the windows; the king’s crowned monogram was painted on the new panes. He also visited the peasants and drank toasts with them, according to their custom. King Christian listened to the complaints from Norway of the extortions of the Danish prefects, who, one after another, were deposed from office or compelled to pay heavy fines. He made the Norwegian-born nobleman, Hans Pederson Basse (or Little), Chancellor of Norway.

The old Norwegian laws, which were written in the old Norse language, and therefore now hard to understand, were abolished, and, in their stead, the king directed the learned chancellor, Hans Pederson Basse, with the assistance of other experienced men, to elaborate a new code of laws. Hans Pederson died (November, 1602) before this work was completed, but his assistant and successor as Chancellor of Norway, Anders Green, continued it, and the new laws were published in 1604. A Norwegian ecclesiastical law (Ordinance) was also given, because the Danish one was not suited for Norway.

Christian IV. had three wars during his long reign, two with Sweden and one with the Catholics in Germany.

The first Swedish war (1611-1613) was fought principally for Norway’s sake. The Swedish king, Charles IX., called himself, at his coronation, King of the Lapps, and laid claim to the Norwegian province of Finmark. There was also a renewal of a conflict about “the three crowns” in the coats-of-arms. Christian made a successful attack, destroyed the newly-founded town of Gothenburg, and captured Elfsborg and the town and fortress of Kalmar; hence this war is called the Kalmar War. During the war, the old king, Charles IX., died, and was succeeded by his son, the great Gustavus Adolphus. The war was largely conducted with foreign mercenaries, as it was not yet usual to have standing armies. Gustavus Adolphus had secured two such hired armies, which were to try to proceed across Norway in order to reach Sweden, as the Kattegat was closed with Danish ships. Colonel Munchaven landed with eight hundred men from Holland in SÖndmÖre, where he plundered the country, then tried in vain to attack Throndhjem, and afterward proceeded through StjÖrdalen, where the people had become so frightened, on account of his depredations, that they did not dare to offer any resistance. Ravaging and plundering he made his way across the mountain ridge KjÖlen into the province of Jemteland, which he conquered before joining the army in Sweden. The second foreign army was given a different reception. It consisted of nine hundred men, who came from Scotland under the command of Colonel George Sinclair. They landed at Veblungsnes in Romsdal and proceeded up to Gudbrandsdal. Under the leadership of Bailiff Lauritz Gram, the brave peasants of the Gudbrandsdal armed themselves as best they could. The peasants from the parishes of Lesje, Vaage, Fron, and Ringebu, gathered at the narrow mountain pass, Kringen, near the river Laugen, to await the arrival of the enemy. The advance guard was allowed to pass; but on the arrival of the main body, with Colonel Sinclair himself, the Norwegians suddenly attacked the Scotchmen, who were all shot down or driven into the river. The advance guard was then overtaken and killed. Of the whole force of nine hundred men, not one man, it is said, escaped. At Kvam’s Church a grave is still pointed out as being that of Colonel Sinclair, and at Kringen there is a plain stone monument bearing this inscription: “Here Colonel George Sinclair was shot, August 26, 1612.” After the Scotchmen the Norwegians call this war the “Scotch War.”

Peace was finally concluded at KnaerÖd, January 26, 1613. Gustavus Adolphus abandoned his claim to the Norwegian Finmark, and Christian relinquished the captured fortresses upon being paid a million Rigsdalers. Both countries were again allowed to use the three crowns in their coats-of-arms.

In his second war Christian IV. was not successful. This was his participation in the Thirty Years’ War as the ally of the German Protestants against Emperor Ferdinand II. and the Catholics (1625-1629). After his defeat in the battle of Lutter am Barenberge, the imperial armies, under Tilly and Wallenstein, overran Holstein, Schleswig, and Jutland, and, at the Peace of Lubeck, Christian was obliged to pledge himself not to take any further part in the war.

King Christian’s third war was with Sweden. The Swedish king, Gustavus Adolphus, had been fighting for the cause of the Protestants in Germany, and, after his fall in 1632, the Swedes continued the war under his able generals with much success. King Christian viewed with alarm the growing power of the Swedes, and secretly allied himself with the enemies of Sweden. The Swedes, however, anticipated his designs, and, in December, 1643, the Swedish general, Torstensson, left the scene of war in Bohemia and suddenly invaded Holstein, while another Swedish army attacked the province of Scania; a Swedish and a Dutch fleet were to convey these armies over to the Danish isles. The duchies and Jutland were in a very short time conquered by the Swedes, and it was only by Christian’s wise and prompt proceedings that Funen and the other islands were saved from falling into the hands of the enemy. Although King Christian was then an old man of sixty-seven years, he took command of his fleet, won a battle at Listerdyk, and fought valiantly in the terrible naval battle of Kolbergheide, Femern, July 1, 1644, where he himself was badly wounded. On account of a lack of vigilance on the part of the old Danish admiral Galt, the Swedish fleet succeeded in escaping and uniting with the Dutch, and this combined fleet, of sixty-four ships, thereupon attacked the Danish one of seventeen ships, between Lolland and Falster. Unfortunately, a number of the sailors were ashore, and some of the commanders took to hasty flight. The remainder gathered around their admiral, the Norwegian, Pros Nilson Mund, who would neither flee nor surrender, but fought to the last man against the overwhelming force of the enemy. This defeat placed Denmark in such a dangerous position that an immediate peace became an absolute necessity. The peace was concluded at Bromsebro, August 13, 1645, and King Christian was compelled to cede the Norwegian provinces of Herjedalen and Jemteland, and the island of Gottland to Sweden.

In Norway, where the king had lately established a standing army, this war had been conducted with some success. It was named the Hannibal’s Feud, after the viceroy, Hannibal Sehested, who, with the assistance of the brave warrior, the clergyman in Ullensaker, Kield Stub, not only kept the enemy out of Norway, but also collected heavy tributes from the nearest Swedish provinces. After peace had been concluded, Kield Stub returned to his pastorate, which he managed to his death, in 1663.

Christian IV. did a great deal to promote the industries and commerce of Norway. The Hanseatic office in Bergen was held in check, and Norwegian trading enterprises were encouraged. The mining industry, which had heretofore been neglected, became quite active. When silver had been discovered in Sandsvaer, in 1623, he founded the mining-town of Kongsberg. He also established the copper-works at RÖros, where copper was accidentally discovered by the peasant, Hans Aasen, in 1640. Oslo having been destroyed by fire, King Christian requested the inhabitants to move across the bay, closer to the fortress of Akershus, where he laid out the new town, the present capital of Christiania (1624). At the mouth of the Otter River he founded the town of Christianssand (1643), which afterward became the seat of the bishop instead of Stavanger.

King Christian was very often in Norway. The last time was during the year following the Peace of Bromsebro. After a pleasant sojourn of seven weeks he returned to Denmark, where, shortly afterward, he died (February 28, 1648), in the seventy-first year of his life.

Christian IV. was first married to Anna Katherina of Brandenburg, who died in 1612. In 1615 he entered into a morganatic marriage with Kristine Munk, a lady of noble family, to whom he gave the title of Countess of Schleswig-Holstein, and with whom he lived happily many years. They had several children, among whom was the highly gifted Eleonora Kristine, who was married to the Danish nobleman, Corfitz Ulfeld, and who, with her ambitious husband, exerted a great influence over the king during the latter years of his life.