Some realistic ideas on Kalmar Union out there?

The Kalmar Union is a perpetual favorite on AH.com, let's look at some realistic possibilities. It is a personal union such as the UK was with Hanover or the Netherlands, it was not a dynastic union though the intention was for it to be "perpetually". It did not have any united legislature or structures other than the king himself (and a flag); and never went under the name of "Kalmar" or "Kalmar Union", "Union of Kalmar" or "Scandinavia"; each nation was independent and no contemporary documents show the use of any name for the union as a whole; Kalmar Union is an anachronistic term.

I'm looking for some realistic simple PODs, not wanks or "if everything went right and we do a POD here, a POD there, a POD everywhere in order to reach our goal".
 
IIRC, there was mention of the Pining-Pothorst expedition in another thread about POD's involving the Kalmar Union. It seems that would be an interesting subject to look into.
 
Lessen the geopolitical differences between specially what Denmark and Sweden wanted (Norway and Denmark were a dynastic union, at least in principle in the beginning), specially when it comes to how to treat and act around the North germanic duchies, where Sweden would love to have a peaceful relationship with them for trade, while Denmark would love to get an excuse to go to war with them for real/perceived claims and concerns about rising powers on their door-step.

How to do this through ... tough one.
 
I don't know if it's cheating but it is rather difficult due to the lack of knowledge I've been looking into could Magnus I of Sweden Who was of the house of Estrid ever become elected king of Denmark. With a possibility of a union with Norway somewhere down the line.
 
The only realistic way would be to find a compromise between Denmark and Sweden. Sweden had interests in the east (present day Finland) and used the North German states for trade. It's unrealistic for Denmark to be willing to not go after those states unless they somehow focus on retaining/growing the colonial holdings in Scotland, Iceland and Greenland.

For POD's you could have Hansa grow in power and strength. Possibly with an alliance with the English? That or an expansion of the Hansa trade cities. Getting larger duchies to even support them is a possibility as well. If you keep the Dutch Hanseatic war from happening then that would let Hansa stay at it's height in power for longer.
 
Alternately keep Duke Henry the Pious from dying in battle against the Mongols, which leads to an early reunification of Poland able to maintain control over Silesia and the Baltic ie Prussia and Pomerania (a strong king of Poland could kick out the Teutonic Order just like the Hungarians did, and the German settlers would assimilate like they did elsewhere), thus Denmark would need to play nice in Germany and would be forced to look east to Estonia etc (which actually was held by Denmark for a time) and Finland or west to Iceland and Scotland, thus preventing the supposed falling out with Sweden by aligning their interests and forcing them to stick together to keep a strong front against their rivals.

Basically make the Baltic a look a lot harder to conquer and/or under the thumb of a strong Poland, forcing Denmark and Sweden to cooperate.
 
Alternately keep Duke Henry the Pious from dying in battle against the Mongols, which leads to an early reunification of Poland able to maintain control over Silesia and the Baltic ie Prussia and Pomerania (a strong king of Poland could kick out the Teutonic Order just like the Hungarians did, and the German settlers would assimilate like they did elsewhere), thus Denmark would need to play nice in Germany and would be forced to look east to Estonia etc (which actually was held by Denmark for a time) and Finland or west to Iceland and Scotland, thus preventing the supposed falling out with Sweden by aligning their interests and forcing them to stick together to keep a strong front against their rivals.

Basically make the Baltic a look a lot harder to conquer and/or under the thumb of a strong Poland, forcing Denmark and Sweden to cooperate.

Would the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth count as "a strong Poland"? I myself have tried a Kalmar Union ATL based on Olaf II of Denmark surviving and overthrowing Albert of Mecklenburg. IIRC, early on, the Polish and Lithuanian halves of the Commonwealth weren't always cooperative with each other, so if a Kalmar Union ruler allies with one or the other, they might get drawn eastwards, which could be in Sweden's interests. And if the Danish nobles could be convinced of the benefits of Baltic ports...
 
Top