West Africa:
There is some disagreement which fort is the first established by the several Danish expeditions to West Africa around the years of 1560. It is generally believed to be Fort Toledo, along the Gold Coast. Certainly, Fort Toledo would become one of the principal forts of Dania in West Africa. There is, however a vocal minority, Lead by a professor in Rostock, that claims that Dania earlier established at least two forts in the extreme of western Africa. Which before these claims, is generally believed to only have had a Spanish presence.
If the claims are true, this Danish presence in what is perceived as Spanish territory in later treaties, was certainly short and not very noteworthy. And most importantly, not profitable. It is believed by the people that buy into the theory, that Spain quietly took control of the forts in 1562. The ships that were meant to trade there, would then go on to establish forts along the gold coast, amongst these Fort Toledo.
The early Danish presence in West Africa can generally be divided into two distinct geographical areas, one along the gold coast, and one farther to the east, along, what was believed to be massive wetlands, with a dense population. Several forts were established, but two forts, would rise among these as the principal Danish presence in West Africa.
Along the gold coast, four forts can be traced back to the middle of the 16th century. Three of them would remain minor, mere outposts of the more formidable Fort Toledo, which would be the centre of Danish commerce in the region. A bond with the local Asante people, were quickly established. The Asante were a series of chiefdoms, and vassals of the more powerful Denkyira Kingdom. While both people were the descendants of the Akan people, which migrated there, they would establish various states that would go on to wage bloody war for supremacy.
The Asante, or Ashanti tired of their overlords, were willing to both trade gold, which they had significant amounts of, and slaves captured in battle for European weapons and other goods. The entrance of Dania into the power struggle of the Ashanti and Denkyira kingdoms, would firmly change the balance of power. Leading to a series of success for the so-called Ashanti Confederacy. And with a decline of the Denkyira Kingdom, as it suffered from the renewed onslaught of the remarkable disciplined Ashantis.
To the east, another cluster of Danish forts was established following Fort Toledo in 1562. Much like Fort Toledo, Fort Valdemar would rise to become the principal fort in the area, located on one of the many passages of what was believed to be a massive wetland. Most importantly the area was densely populated, and strife was not uncommon. It would later turn out not to be a Wetland area, but a massive delta.
When discovered, it was not known that this river, was in fact the river Niger, which to a degree already was known in Europe, instead the Danish occupants of the forts in the area thought it was a new river. And to the merchants and other associated people of the Danish forts, the river became known by the local Igbo name Orimili. With Orimil River increasingly becoming the norm. To this day there remains a conflict of which name is the “correct” one, Orimil or Niger.
The forts along the Orimil, took a second place, compared to the forts of the Gold Coast, but would eventually take over, as conflicts in the interior would supply an ample number of slaves. This combined with the eventual establishment of the Ashanti Kingdom, and later Ashanti Empire, that brought stability to the interior of the Gold Coast, and a decline in slaves. Would cement the Orimil forts as the principal departure of slaves for the Danish colonies.
Italy, War and Glass:
Back in Europe another great war had emerged, albeit without Dania’s participation. Even then Dania was close to entering the war due to their alliance with one of the major participants of the war; France. The Italian war, was a war that started in 1561, with the invasion of the Kingdom of Naples, by the Kingdom of Spain. Naples ruled by the Anjou dynasty, would call upon the assistance of its allies in France.
The entrance of France would trigger a landslide, as Spains North Italian allies entered the war. However, in Lotharingia, now allied with Spain, Spain was seen as the aggressor, rightfully so, and Lotharangia would therefor stay outside the war. Ensuring that Danish participation would not become a reality.
The war would end in a stalemate in 1567 but it would have a series of consequences. First amongst these was the decline of Venice. Venice sided with Spain in the war, and would see much of its hinterland plundered by Savoyard and French troops during the war. The city itself remained safe, due to its indomitable defensive position. So too did its important trade posts across the Mediterranean.
The decline came due to, two unfortunate events, one being a renewed Portuguese offensive in the Indian Ocean, taking control of the West Indian Spice trade once again, removing the trade route that went through the Mamluk land, and then onwards to Venice. It was an incredible source of wealth that Venice lost to the Portuguese, but it was not enough to bring the city state to its knees.
The other event which had a marked effect on Venice, was the loss of the glass monopoly on the island of Murano. Inherited from the Byzantine craftsmen, the glass produced on Murano was leaps and bounds ahead of anything else in Europe. Sure, glass was not uncommon, but outside Venice it was of questionable quality. It was of such importance, that the craftsmen of Murano, was forbidden to leave the Republic.
During the war, France tried an ultimately unsuccessful amphibious assault on Venice. But Murano was under French control for several weeks, after the attack on Venice. It is estimated that around half of the glass craftsmen were gone, when France left the isle. Most went to France, but many spread across Europe, seeking employment at various kingdoms and rich nobility. A few would go on to establish a legacy, with workshops carrying on the proud tradition. Others of the craftsmen would part away no knowledge to an apprentice.
The four most well-known workshops were established in Paris, Aachen, Prague and København. With the one in Dania being established later than the three others, and by some counting as under the one in Paris, but it was just a few years younger. These four cities, are regarded to have preserved the knowledge from Murano. While other workshops across Europe also rose to prominence, they are considered lesser, due to the loss of knowledge.
In Dania, glass production before the arrival of the Venetian glassmakers consisted of solely Wald glass, this glass with Greenish and yellow hues were often considered of far inferior quality and crude designs compared to their Mediterranean counterparts. It is a bit unfair, as the craftsmanship had surely improved compared to earlier medieval times.
The workshops of København, became a reality when 6 Venetian craftsmen, came to Dania, as part of the large retinue, the French Princess Jeanne de Valois brought with her, to her new home.
Marriage and Royal residences:
The marriage between Grand King Konrad II, and now Queen Jeanne, was an answer to the diplomatic situation that France saw itself in. The alliance between Spain and Lotharingia threatened France, to the south and north, leading France to seek closer ties to Dania, the only realm deemed strong enough to oppose Lotharingia, in northern Europe. These ties would Certainly make sure that Lotharingia, would think twice, before it invaded the Kingdom of France.
Dania, was not in the same situation, as France, it did not have a rival to the north, but Lotharingia had shown itself as a capable enemy, and now enlarged it had become a real threat to the Grand Kingdom. Diplomatically Lotharingia was better off, alliances with England and Spain, and various duchies, ensured plenty of goodwill to the Kingdom.
The marriage between Konrad and Jeanne, was one amongst a series of political marriages that Dania entered during the period of 1560-1570, besides the marriage of Konrad, four of his sisters would be married off, in Scotland, the youngest of Konrad’s sisters, became Queen Margrethe, in Halych-Volhynia, his eldest sister, became Queen Helena. While the two remaining sisters never became Queens, they nevertheless came into positions of influence in Central Europe.
Jeanne, Queen of Dania, would stay out of politics, she is largely remembered, not only for the love that the people bore her, but also to the establishment of the Queens Garden, a series of greenhouses, and around these gardens, and while the original greenhouses was replaced years later, the complex that was built around the original series of Greenhouses, became one of the grandest in Europe, with expansive fountains and sculptures, generally called a piece of Île-de-France in Dania.
A hunting lodge was built as part of the gardens, though on the outskirts, and soon, the area became the summer residence of choice for Konrad and Jeanne, overtaking the old Cistercian Palace, in Eastern Jutland. Which had been the summer residence of choice for near on a century.
Gyldenlund, 1586
After Konrad’s death, Jeanna, then the Dowager Queen made the Hunting Lodge, her permanent residence, for the last thirty years of her life. While the complex, sometimes is known as Konradlund, the original name, Gyldenlund, of the defunct noble estate, that Jeanne was gifted by Konrad, remained the most popular and official name.
Jeanne would continue to expand upon Gyldenlund, and at her death in 1627, Gyldenlund came into the hands of the Grand King again. Soon becoming the royal residence of choice, the Cistercian Palace, would once again become the summer residence of choice. The old royal residence, the opulent Absalonsborg Palace, located centrally in the capital, would take a step back, only to be used by the Grand King, when he visited the city. Though famously, second sons would often call it their home.
Lotharingia and the New World:
Lotharingia in these years would establish their own colonies in the New World with the first being Nieuw-Vlaanderen. It took over all four expeditions to the area, as the first three settlements, were overrun by Skraelings, which were not too happy to see other “white men” on their shores. Having learned from their neighbours to the north of the conflict that they brought with them.
Nieuw-Vlaanderen, established on an Island, in the estuary of a large river, was ideally suited to defend against the Skraelings, it also helped that one of the largest natural harbours in the world was located there.
Several expeditions would follow later, establishing a Lotharingian presence in the Caribbean Isles, though here they would not be the third to do that, as France would establish its own presence in the New World by 1570, just two years later than Lotharingia.
