In 1585 a formal meeting was held between representatives of of England, Holland and England at the Court of Queen Elizabeth.
The representatives agreed upon an unequivocal recognition and support of the free Provinces in accordance with the Act of Abjuration.
The English claim to the Shetland Islands was further renforced and the so called "Nordhavs"(Northern Sea) policy was enacted, recognizing the right of British ships to sail the North Atlantic with the Danish guarantee of safe passage through Danish waters and anchorage in Danish harbours.
Furthermore a resolution of increased naval warfare against Spain in the Atlantic to better the position of the three nations and respect each of the countries claim to land and ealth in the New World.
At the convention the Danish privateer Jonas Berger met with Francis Drake and was inspired by the daring explorer to seek step up the Danish effort in the Atlantic and even in the Caribbean.
The Danish delegation counted the two noblemen Guildenstern and Rosenkrantz who would lend their names to the Shakesperian play,
Hamlet, but the leader of the representatives was Valkendorf, who, through hiscunning diplomacy was instrumental in reaching the results of the negotiations. And close students of Shakesperare will notice that a minor character in
The Merchant of Venice , by the name of Valorio who briefly defends Shylock's claim in the trial, was based on Valkendorf.
Unofficially Valkendorf advocated for readmission of Jews to Britain at the conference on behalf of the Copenhagen Jewry, but was unsuccesful, though his appeal would be referenced in later discussions on the subject in Britain.
Back in Denmark Rigshofmester Oxe continued purchasing more estates from other nobles and rural property holders, and began what he termed "purging" of heretic elements in his subjects. Meaning that he didn't allow the recalcitrant practice of eucharist(transsubstitution) and Saints worship among his tenants.
This policy was carried out in a rather draconian way with the deployment of German "landsknaegts", bringing back memories of the time before the Counts Feud.
The brutish manner in which Oxe's "thugs" forced lutheran practices on the peasants, resulted in an uprising in the aforementioned county of Lolland-Falster being lead by a local gamesman named Soren Henriksoen who had been one of the foremost redressers in the earlier inquiry.
He and and a band of likeminded peasants burned down a barn storing the naturalia taxes collected from tenants.
Henriksoen and his men termed themselves "Clement's men", invoking the name of the celebrated popular hero, and the stories of their exploits against the tyrannical Rigshofmester quickly reached the Capital.
This coincided with the return of Valkendorf's delegation, and thus Peder Oxe found himself in a problematic situation with his burgher-backed rival returning from a succesful mission, and his rebellious subjects being likened to the freedom fighters of the Skipper.
Valkendorf knew that he was next-in-line to the seat of Rigshofmester should Oxe fall and so he was not late to take advantage of the opportunity the whole affair presented him with.
He advised King Magnus to appease the peasants by acting as negotiator, by accepting the original redress and therby working out a solution to the problem.
With the Clement's men disrupting the flow of agricultural products to the nearby kjobstad og Nykjobing-Falster, the heretofore passive burghers also started complaining about the acions of Oxe which had roused the rural population in such a way.
Henriksoen was granted amnesty to come to Copenhagen and negotiate.
The result came in the fall of 1585, when it was asserted that the tenant-leasee relationship was of a purely economical nature and therfore the contract could not be used to dictate any religious practices.
The case for a more flexible naturalia taxation was not addressed however, but the peasants deemed this outcome a huge victory. The Crown assumed cusody over the particular estate where the redress had come from and Oxe was given some Royal land in Scania as compensation.
Thus beaten and disenfranchised Oxe stepped down as Rigshofmester and Valkendorf was quickly tapped as his successor.
In 1586 Queen Maria gave birth to Magnus' son: Christoffer.
With the outbreak of war in 1585 between Spain and England, the King and Rigshofmester commissioned Jonas Berger to sail to the Caribbean by way of West Africa to protect trade interest in those areas, but more imoportantly to aide the privateering campaign of Francis Drake.
Berger reached the Lesser Antilles, having captured a Portuguese slave ship on the way, in late spring 1586 and with a base on Antigua commenced with apprehending Spanish treasure galleons.
The Axholm trade house of Aalborg also expanded its trade on the coast of Gambia and Guinea.
A young captain recently graduated from the Naval Academy named Lionel De Cajabracal was hired by the Axholm house.
His diligent service to his employers ended rather briefly, when he in 1587 was unloading a shipment of slaves in Plymouth and heard of Francis Drake planing an expidition. Using the profit from his cargo, he outfitted his two ships for combat and left Plymouth with Drake.
When the news of his actions reached Aalborg it was accompanied by his daring participation in the Raid on Cadiz.
De Cajabracal had even earned two capyured Spanish ships from Drake for his essential role in taking out a gun positions guarding the entrance to Cadiz.
After this succesful adventure de Cajabracal sailed to the Lesser Antilles and merged his little fleet with that of Jonas Berger and together they captured several galleons laden with gold over the summer and fall.
In 1588 he returned to Europe with Bergers amassed bounties, presenting Queen Elizabeth of England with three galleons attributing the gift to his ruler: King Magnus.
De Cajabracal decided to delay his returen to Denmark when the news of the approaching Armada reached Plymouth.
He promised his help to Sir Drake and once against proved his seamanship in the ensuing battle.
In Late 1588 he returende to Copenhagen and the much-heralded return of the maverick was a big occasion in the Capital where the defeat of the feared Armada was seen as the proof of the "North Sea Alliance" could challenge the almighty Hapsburgs.
King Magnus always the sucker for heroic exploits greeted de Cajabracal and would hear none of the Axholm complaints about his mutiny(they where paid back by with the riches de Cajabracal had captured).
The King made de Cajabracal a proper privateer of the Royal Fleet.
(sorry if the entry became a bit swashbuckling at the end, it might be a bit over the top, but I got carried away
