The Blessing of Saint Olaf - Version 2

1387 - 1389 AD:

1387 was a year of great hope for the Scandinavian kingdoms. Hope that the young king of Denmark and Norway would pull through his illness. In Stockholm, the boy's rival, Albert of Mecklenburg, also waited for the news. When he was informed of the outcome, he let loose a long, loud string of profanities which made everyone wonder who was being murdered.

Olaf had pulled through and nothing could deter him from claiming his birthright. His grandfather, Magnus, had been king of both Sweden and Norway until he abdicated Norway to his favourite son, Haakon, and been deposed by the Swedish nobility. The marriage between Olaf's parents, Haakon and Margaret of Denmark, had been purely political, but she had always devoted herself to the future and wellbeing of her son. It was she who encouraged Olaf to name himself the true King of Sweden. Margaret and the people rejoiced at Olaf's recovery. Rumors immediately began to circulate that Albert had attempted to poison him. A few believed that Olaf had been poisoned, but not by Albert.

Olaf marched from Skåne as soon as he could walk, despite the protests of his advisors. At the head of nearly 2,000 men, he marched into West Sweden where most of the population didn't support Albert. Out of fear and desperation, Albert tried to reduce the estates of the Swedish nobility to gain the money he needed, costing him valuable support in Stockholm. While Albert was in Mecklenburg, hiring mercenaries, the Swedish regency council sent a delegation to Olaf and Margaret asking them to remove Albert. Olaf personally accompanied his army and met Albert at Åsle in 1388. The Germans, outnumbered two to one, were defeated, and Albert himself was captured, deposed and imprisoned in Lindholmen castle in Skåne. Olaf was formally crowned on in Stockholm as King Olaf I of Sweden. For the first time in history, one man ruled all of Scandinavia. But Olaf was still young, and another matter demanded his immediate attention - marriage...
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Here we go again. I'll post as much as I can before I go back to uni next week, changing what I posted in the old thread as much as necessary.

If you have any opinions, if there's anything you like or think could be changed or improved, please post.

As for the marriage, this time the only candidates are:

* Sophia of Lithuania, daughter of Vytautas.
* Joanna Sophia of Bavaria, daughter of Albert, Duke of Bavaria-Straubing, Count of Holland, Hainaut and Zeeland.
* Catherine of Valois, daughter of Charles V of France.
* Beatrice of Portugal (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beatrice_of_Portugal), daughter of Ferdinand I of Portugal.
 
1389 - 1391 AD:

One of Olaf's first acts was to create an advisory council comprised of equal numbers of Danes, Swedes and Norwegians. The latter were rarer due to Norway having been depopulated by the Black Death, and because Norway had never had an official nobility, they were seen mainly as upstarts by the firmly-entrenched Swedes. People thought that, because the king had been raised in Denmark for most of his life, and because Norway remained loyal, he would be biased towards their interests. But surprisingly, Olaf tried to maintain a balance between all of them. Before the Battle of Åsle, he had gone amongst the people of Sweden incognito. He began doing the same when touring Denmark, and despite having grown up with them all his life, he saw how the Danish nobility treated the same men who had won him Sweden. Olaf had no more love for the Swedish nobility, and it became his life's mission to break both of them at his expense. But he would need to go about it carefully, or he would end up just like Albert, or worse, his great-grandfather Christopher II of Denmark.

Olaf also needed to decide how to deal with his mother. A powerful woman was never popular with noblemen, especially one who showed no desire to remarry. Both Olaf and Margaret wanted to keep the nobility in check, but the first cracks in their relationship began when they diasgreed about who they should support. Margaret was a pious and charitable woman, and she had raised her son to be the same way, but she preferred to lend her support to the church. Olaf could understand her position. After all, the church owned large amounts of land in all three of his kingdoms. But the way he saw it, if he directly supported the peasants, they would look toward him and not the church to solve their problems. Olaf drew up plans for the abolition of serfdom in Denmark. He knew the nobles would react badly, and there would no shortage of cousins they could replace him with. Albert had a 26 year-old son, Eric, back in Mecklenburg, and Olaf's maternal cousin, Maria of Mecklenburg, had a nine year-old son with the Duke of Pomerania.

All this time, there was the issue of marriage. One of the first suggestions was Albert of Mecklenburg's daughter, Richardis Catherine. But they had learned from Albert himself that he had married her to the Holy Roman Emperor's son, John, while he was gathering support on the continent. Instead, he offered the hand of his niece, Euphemia. They briefly considered a sister of the King of France, but she too had been married since 1386, and she was still a child. Besides, the French supported their puppet in Avignon while Olaf was loyal to the true Pope in Rome. Albert, Duke of Bavaria-Straubing and Count of Holland, Hainaut and Zeeland offered the hand of his daughter, Joanna Sophia. Some on the council though that such a marriage wouldn't be prestigious or influential enough, while others saw potential for trade contracts in the west. A final suggestion was for Beatrice of Portugal, the last of the Portuguese House of Burgundy. Olaf briefly considered it, Valdemar the Conqueror and his son had both married Portuguese infantas, but he held off giving an answer for a variety of reasons:

1. Beatrice had had no children from her previous marriage to the King of Castile, but that did not mean she was still a virgin.
2. She might have had prestige as the last of her line, but did she have any money?
3. Beatrice, her father and her former husband had supported the Avignon Pope while the new ruling house was backed by the Kingdom of England who, like Olaf, was loyal to Rome.

The English king, Richard II, had no available cousins, but Olaf would turn back to England later in his reign when seeking allies.

By 1391, Olaf was still considering his options when he received an unexpected offer. Lithuania had recently come into union with Poland under Queen Jadwiga and Jogaila, newly baptized and renamed Władysław. That was five years ago. Since then, Władysław had installed his brother, the unpopular Skirgaila, as Grand Duke of Lithuania. The Lithuanians rallied around Vytautas, a cousin of the king, who turned to the Teutonic Order for military assistance. The Order demanded hostages from Vytautas as a guarantee of loyalty, including his sister, his two brothers, his wife and his only daughter, Sophia. Vytautas, however, went behind the Order's back and sent an envoy to Stockholm. Olaf was wintering in Kalmar castle when he was informed of his guest's arrival. Vytautas offered the king his daughter's hand in marriage in exchange for help against Władysław...
 
Okay, everyone, I know I made a big deal out of it on the previous forum, but I'd still like some opinions. PLEASE? Previously, the most popular choice for Olaf's bride was Sophia of Lithuania, yet I was also advised that TTL's Kalmar Union shouldn't get involved in European politics. I was nearly about to choose Sophia when A. I discovered the existence of Albert of Mecklenburg's niece, and B. I couldn't find a suitable replacement bride for Vasili of Moscow. I guesse I was just worrying too much about butterflies.

Right now I'm deciding between Sophia of Lithuania or Joanna Sophia of Bavaria. In terms of the latter, I'm not sure how wealthy Holland is in the late 14th century/early 15th century in comparison to the economic powerhouse it would later become IOTL.

So, just between those two - Sophia of Lithuania or Joanna Sophia of Bavaria - which do people think would bring the more prestige and/or better dowry? If no one posts, I'll automatically go with Sophia of Lithuania.
 
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Okay, everyone, I know I made a big deal out of it on the previous forum, but I'd still like some opinions. PLEASE? Previously, the most popular choice for Olaf's bride was Sophia of Lithuania, yet I was also advised that TTL's Kalmar Union shouldn't get involved in European politics. I was nearly about to choose Sophia when A. I discovered the existence of Albert of Mecklenburg's niece, and B. I couldn't find a suitable replacement bride for Vasili of Moscow. I guesse I was just worrying too much about butterflies.

Right now I'm deciding between Sophia of Lithuania or Joanna Sophia of Bavaria. In terms of the latter, I'm not sure how wealthy Holland is in the late 14th century/early 15th century in comparison to the economic powerhouse it would later become IOTL.

So, just between those two - Sophia of Lithuania or Joanna Sophia of Bavaria - which do people think would bring the more prestige and/or better dowry? If no one posts, I'll automatically go with Sophia of Lithuania.

Just go with the Lithuanian marriage...for Vasili we can pick a random rurikid princess.
 
Just go with the Lithuanian marriage...for Vasili we can pick a random rurikid princess.

Okay.

1392 - 1400 AD:

Olaf quickly accepted the envoy's offer for Sophia's hand, and Vytautas went on to gain the upper hand in the Lithuanian civil war. Olaf and Sophia got married in the cathedral at Kalmar, and while they never fell in love, they got along quite well. Despite this, Sophia was initially distrusted by Margaret and the nobility since the Lithuanian nobility had only recently converted to Christianity, and their ancestors had previously accepted baptism only to return to their pagan beliefs or the religion of the Russian schismatics. The queen worked hard to ingratiate herself with her people's subjects, and the couple went so far as to name their first son Christopher (meaning "Christ-bearer") as a show of devotion to the Catholic faith. Three years later, Sophia gave birth to a second son, Alexander, named partly for the historical King of Macedon and partly after Vytautas' baptismal name.

In 1393, representatives from all three kingdoms signed the Treaty of Kalmar, which united the kingdoms but not their legal structures. Margaret tried to make it work, but Olaf's mind was hard at work once more. He had decided to hold off pass his law abolishing serfdom until he could prove himself as a ruler. First, he would give all of his subjects peace, dismantling private castles, prohibiting private warfare and strengthening his authority through the royal courts. In terms of expansion, his options were limited. As long as Count Gerhard remained loyal, he didn't see much reason to go after Holstein unprovoked. Those Swedes kept talking about eastern expansion, and Olaf could only think of one target. Estonia had once been a direct domain held by the Kings of Denmark, or their close relatives, until his grandfather had sold it to the Teutonic Order in 1346. Valdemar IV had needed the money, but he had also broken the promise made by Christopher II to never abandon or sell the duchy. But the Danish kings had never fully abandoned or renounced the title, and the Teutonic Order's time was coming to a close anyway. With the loss of the Holy Land and the Christianization of the Lithuanians, what use were they to man or beast? All Olaf had to do was wait until they were vulnerable...
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Children of Olaf II of Denmark & Sophia of Lithuania:

Christopher (b. 1393) - betrothed to Philippa of England
Alexander (b. 1396)
Margaret (b. 1399)
 
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