Medieval (and earlier) Danish scenarios-

raharris1973

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What if the Romans occupied Denmark (or at least Jutland) for (a) the same brief period they occupied northwest Germany, or (b) for about a century or so (as long as Dacia). What are the subsequent knock-on effects.

What if Charlemagne conquered Denmark after Saxony? He could possibly have taken Jutland-mainland, or taken the islands as well. What would this have done to the Viking age?

What if Otto the Great conquered Denmark? What would that do to the (late) Viking age?

What if the Danes carved out a "Normandy" from the medieval Kingdom of Germany/East Francia?

How far could they go with a concerted effort? a) acquire the Baltic & north sea coast, b) acquire one or more of Saxony, Northmark (latter-day Mecklenburg & Brandenburg) or Frisia? c) could they establish a strong base in the north, and then, in a mirror of OTL's Norman Italy, acquire central and southern Germany?
 
What about King Valdemar II and his son not getting captured by the Germans while they were on a hunting trip?Would Denmark still control Pomerania and a large part of north Germany?
 
What if the Romans occupied Denmark (or at least Jutland) for (a) the same brief period they occupied northwest Germany, or (b) for about a century or so (as long as Dacia). What are the subsequent knock-on effects.

I would say next to nothing, but I'm not really sure the Romans could conquer Jutland without using vastly more resources than its worth. Jutland was mostly heath and marshes historical, it was poor and until the creation of the Army Road, it was hard to travel.

What if Charlemagne conquered Denmark after Saxony? He could possibly have taken Jutland-mainland, or taken the islands as well. What would this have done to the Viking age?

What if Otto the Great conquered Denmark? What would that do to the (late) Viking age?

They would have the same problem as the Romans just from a weaker point of view. While the Romans could have thrown legions against Jutland, the Franks was in a worse position. Denmark had at this point transformed into a united tribal territory, much more densely populated, it had stronger naval position and the main population centres lay protected on the islands.

The best Frankish solution would be to throw their support behind some Danish pretender (like they did with Harald Klak) and let him conquer Denmark, give him some land in Frisia or Saxony (which he couldn't protect against the Frankish/German king) against becoming a Frankish vassal. This would lead to him staying a vassal to keep his territories in East Frankia. The result would likely be that the Danes would refocus their expeditions abroad to attacks on the Wends instead. As for England we would likely see that without Danish presence the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms do much better.
What if the Danes carved out a "Normandy" from the medieval Kingdom of Germany/East Francia?

I can't see it happens, Frisians and Saxons dealt much better with Danish attacks than the French did. Denmark regularly raided Frisia, but raids was more limited, and the Frisians sometimes won, and Danish-Frisian warfare seem to have lacked the brutality we saw in with the Anglo-Saxons or French.

How far could they go with a concerted effort? a) acquire the Baltic & north sea coast, b) acquire one or more of Saxony, Northmark (latter-day Mecklenburg & Brandenburg) or Frisia? c) could they establish a strong base in the north, and then, in a mirror of OTL's Norman Italy, acquire central and southern Germany?

If we're talking about the Slavic areas, Denmark did have some potential under the Valdemarans as darthfanta mention more on that later.

What about King Valdemar II and his son not getting captured by the Germans while they were on a hunting trip?Would Denmark still control Pomerania and a large part of north Germany?

This is a quite interesting POD let's say that father and son aren't captured/kidnapped. Denmark at this point controlled Holstein, Mecklenburg and Pommerania, and could have potential have taken Brandenburg too. The kidnapping and its aftermath lead to a century of chaos in Denmark. It also lead to the strengthening of the imperial cities in North Germany and the rise of the Hanseatic League.

So let's that doesn't happens. The Valdemarans had some weakness inherit in their very structure with younger son being given their own principalities. Of course that wasn't a problem when Denmark expanded, but with the loss of the land abroad it resulted in the crown being weaken. But this mean that unless TTL's Valdemar III (the oldest so of Valdemar II) only produce one son, he will have to expand just keep the crown strong. A result of that is that a major defeat can result in the total collapse of Danish power.

Let's look at the effect. Holstein was already at this point mostly Germanised/Saxonised, while Mecklenburg was underway. The Danish crown have neither the will or ability to turn that around. Pommerania on the other hand was a major Danish settlement area and without the collapse of the Danish crown, the civil wars and population collapse in Denmark, Pommerania may very well have ended up Danish speaking. We would likely also see some regional Danish judicial code being set up in Holstein, Mecklenburg and Pommerania. With a Danification of Pommerania it will likely stay Danish even in the case of a Danish defeat in the slightly longer term.

The Danish control over Lübeck and the greater stability will likely lead to that we see different cities dominate the Baltic under Danish overlordship (Schleswig and Copenhagen are likely). Denmark can't afford the whole imperial cities as Germany could (they would be too big a threat to ), so we won't see them being as strong as in OTL. This strengthen the Danish dominance of the Baltic.

In the Baltic countries with a stronger Danish position, we will likely see the Livonian knights become a Danish vassal after their defeat, Courland and Livonia becomes a weird mix of ecclessial, knightly and royal possessions. The king likely try to push the same secular power over the Church there as he had in Estonia (the only Catholic bishopric where the Pope recognised a king right to appoint bishops (a good way to get away with younbger sons), Valdemar may be one of the few people who can get away with it). The Teutonic Knight will likely still conquer Prussia, but the Poles will likely be grateful to have them as a buffer against Denmark.

When we go down the line, we will likely see a Denmark whose core Danish national territories are Jutland, the Islands, Scania, Pommerania and Gotland. Estonia and Latvia will likely be Denmark's Finland, while Holstein-Mecklenburg will be this Denmark's Schleswig-Holstein. I could see a Swedish-Norwegian Union being established as a counter weight. But we could also the Danes run them over as this Denmark will have a much larger population.
 
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