Part 14 – A new King, a new age [1447-1448]
The streets of Copenhagen were lined with townspeople, cheering and throwing flowers that soon were trampled into the dirt by the cavalcade of white horses making it towards the Church of our Lady. They had come out to get a glimpse of their soon-to-be Queen, and the famous gilded wedding dress she would be wearing, rumours said it had costed the bride’s weight in gold. This didn’t say much however, as Anne was only a young girl of twelve. In fact she almost completelty disappeared behind the rows of mounted noblemen that flanked her on either side. Her entourage was itself an impressive sight, made up of the highest and most powerful men in each of the three Kingdoms, also wearing coats that shimmered in the summer sun.
Anne felt quite happy that she wasn’t seen, in fact she found the loud crowds quite intimidating. Part of this was of course because she couldn’t hardly understand a word of what they were saying, it could equally well be call for her deaths as it could be praise, she’d be none the wiser. Anne hadn’t had time to learn Danish, in fact this whole wedding had stood a lot earlier than anyone had expected. She had been told that they’d surely wait until she was 14, probably 16 even. When news came wasn’t marrying a prince, but a King, the urgency of the wedding suddenly increased. That was also the reason why the dress Anne was wearing today was far to big for her, having been made for an event people thought would still be years away.
As the riders made it to the church, they were greeted by a sensechal who helped Anne dismount. Even though he held her hand, the bride almost fell when she stepped of onto the ground. Absurdly high
pattens had been strapped to her shoes, so that her dress wouldn’t drag on the ground, but they hardly made it easier for her to walk. Once Anne regained her balance and the rest of her entourage had dismounted, the doors of the church were opened and the blaring of horns announced the bride. As she began to make it down the isle, there was now nothing to hinder the gaze of people looking her direction. The whole process only being hindreded by her ridiculous footwear, forcing her to only take tiny steps.
Feeling her heart pound in her chest and dizzy with stress as she walked, Anne tried her hardest to ignore the crowds. Though her head was still, behind the veil her eyes were darting around, looking for something in the church to distract her. The chapel had been richly decorated for the occasion, in fine cloth of blue, red and gold. These were the colours of Burgundy, but also of Denmark, probably a clever bith of symbolism by Anne’s husband-to-be. She had only met Valdemar once before, when she was 9 years old, but she had been told he had an eye for such things. Now, as she approached the altar, she laid her eyes on her bethroed for the second time in her life. Valdemar was dressed in the latest Burgundian fashion which made him look familiar to Anne, but also made him stand out a great deal among the union guests. That was the point, Anne supposed. Many guests had already taken notice of how dissmilar he looked to either his father or grandfather, with golden locks and bright blue eyes as opposed to the dark brown hair and eyes of his predecessors.
As she got even closer to the altar, Anne noticed a golden crown resting on a satin pillow behind it. The crown was usually kept in the Vadstena abbey, one of the few places in the north Anne had heard of before coming here, and had been brought out for the first time to crown her Queen of the three Kingdoms. Finally, Anne finished her walk, which had seemed endless just a moment ago. So much work had gone into getting her here, even the Pope had been contacted to give his blessing to the marriage. Anne had never wished that this much of a fuzz be made over her, but now that it had, she would do what was expected. The church grew silent for a moment, then the priest began speaking.
Anne’s golden dress was meant to partly look like the famous golden dress Queen Margaret had owned, though more modern and far more extravagant.
Valdemar had been living mostly in Burgundy since he was seventeen. What at first only had intended to be a short visit had turned into an on-and-off pemanent stay. He would be recalled to Denmark often, but always tried to return to Burgundy as soon as possible. The prince had fallen in love with the extravangant court life in the Duchy as well as the art, the fashion and the music. He hoped to bring it all with him back home to the union once he became King. It wasn’t however only the Burgundian courts that had impressed the young prince. During visits to the great Flemish cities like Antwerp, Ghent and Bruges he had been amazed by the great harbours, ships and production centres there. They far exceeded anything he’d seen back home. How wealthy would the union not become if it could have cities like these of it’s own? Valdemar had even joined the Duke on campaign at times and seen the effectiveness of the Burgundian
compagnies d’ordonnance, the first professional armies of Europe. If he could replace the feudal armies of the union with something like this, what would he have to fear from either rebels of foreign invaders? Whenever he came home and had the chance to see his father, Valdemar would go on and on about all the ways he thought the union could be improved.
As for Valdemar’s person, many in Burgundy saw great promise in him. The prince showed a great aptitude for learning. He spoke Danish, Low German and fairly good Latin from home, but once he came to the Duke’s court he quickly learned not only the local Dutch, Flemish and French, but also English and High German. He even learned a bit of Portugese from the Duke’s wife Isabella. Valdemar loved conversing with foreign visitors, learning of the developments that happened all over Europe, and not rarely weighing in with his own thoughts. He proved himself to be stubborn, once the prince made up his mind he was extremely hard to persuade, this sometimes lead to heated arguments and even physical confrontations with those he disagreed with. “I get it from my mother.” He told people. “She can’t stand morons either.”
Though sometimes percieved as brash and hot-blooded, Valdemar became somewhat of a celebrity in the Burgundian court. Whenever the Duke arranged tournaments, the prince would participate, usually doing well and sometimes winning the whole thing. Valdemar surely saw himself as living up to the new, somewhat romantic, knightly ideals that swept much of Europe at the time. In general, both the Duke and his court saw Valdemar as a fine prince, well worth of marrying the Duke’s daughter. But another woman had already become a much bigger part of Valdemar’s life. She was Blanche, little is known of her background, but she probably came from a family of minor Flemish nobility. Blanche and Valdemar formed a relationship soon after he arrived at the Burgundian court. It is said that the prince considered breaking of his engagement to Anne and eloping, but a mistress of two (or twenty-four, in the Duke’s case) was no shame in Burgundy. This was in sharp contrast to the union, where both having
friller and bastards were considered shameful vices.
Valdemar’s time at the Burgundian court had in other words profoundly changed and inspired him. When word came in late 1447 of his father’s death, he immediately hurried to get home, but he would not travel alone. Not only did Blanche come with him, although he concealced his relationship with her at first, Valdemar also invited a slew of friends and acquaintances with him, whom he believed would be necessary to implement his vision for the union.
“Portrait of a Lady”, by Rogier van der Weyden. The woman’s identity is unknown, most believe her to be a bastard of Duke Philip the Good, but others have put forth the theory of her being Valdemar’s mistress Blance.
Arriving in Denmark first, he attended his father’s burial, then the 22-year old prince set out to be elected and crowned. As the eldest son of former King Eric, he was the obvious candidate and faced little opposition. Unlike his father over 20 years ago, the nobility did not try to limit him further than his predecessors. The håndfæstning they put forward was similair to the one his father had fought for and Valdemar signed it without complaint. The nobles partly did not want to risk another reduction of their lands, like had happened last time they’d tried to force harsh terms on the King, but in general the lighter level of restriction both Eric and Olaf had been under had become increasingly normalized. It was now over a hundred years since a Danish King had signed a hånfdæstning harsher than King Olaf’s and even intially controversial laws like the peace of Margaret had become ingrained as part of Danish society. Once crowned and hailed at all three landsting, the King also received an unenthusiastic oath of allegiance from Duke Adolph of Schleswig. At once Valdemar showed interest in adding more Ducal lands to the crown, but Adolph was very hesitant to sell or pawn him any.
From Denmark, Valdemar made it to Trondheim in Norway. There was little opposition to his election there as well, as Norway was a hereditary Kingdom and he was the direct heir. Valdemar was crowned in Nidaros catherdral, but had no interest in staying in the poorest of the union’s three Kingdoms longer than necessary. He quickly began travelling to Sweden, only stopping briefly to meet with his aunt Margaret and little cousin Jon. Sigurd Jonsson, Jon’s father, had essentially served as regent of Norway for much of King Eric’s reign when the monarch couldn’t be present. Valdemar asked for him continue doing so under his own reign, insinuating that he had little interest in visiting Norway often.
From Norway, Valdemar travelled to Sweden, where there was a chance for potential tensions regarding his election. Valdemar’s 16-year old brother Olaf had been living in Sweden for a time and had the second-strongest claim to the throne. This however turned out not to be much of a problem. At the meeting at Bohus only a year ago the privy councils of both Denmark and Sweden had re-affirmed the union letter, which clearly stated that the three Kingdoms should have the same King. It’d be a bit awkward for two of the Kingdoms to elect different candidates so soon after such a declaration. More than this however, Olaf had largely been kept away from the Swedish halls of power by the privy council and had no plans of his own to be elected King.
Valdemar decided to make something more out of his coronation ceremony than usual. Not only did he throw a huge outdoor feast at Mora äng, but also a tournament where enthusiastic knights fought for cash prices and titles inspired by Arthurian legends and the stories of Charlemagne. When it was time for Valdemar to ascend the ancient stones of Mora, he supposedly did so in a Greco-Roman inspired (though hardly accurate) outfit, as if he was a hero or god of the olden days. It was surely a coronation to remember, but at the end of it Valdemar did manage to offend many of the Swedes, when he claimed that the presensce of him and his Burgundian friends was the height of civilization Sweden had seen so far. In general Valdemar mostly kept to the courtiers that had come with him from abroad and only a handful of those union men he found “worthy”. Valdemar’s Ericsgata was especially brief and in some regions he hardly spoke to local leaders, further alienating him from his Swedish subjects.
It was obvious that Valdemar did not intend to spend much time in any Kingdom but Denmark. This became especially clear when he named his brother as
officinalis generalis, highest offical, of Sweden. This was a totally unprecedented move in the union’s history and no one was really certain what it would mean. Clearly Valdemar had heard his late father’s idea of making Olaf a kind of viceroy of Sweden and taken it to heart. Essentially it gave Olaf the authority to act on the King’s behalf on most issues, even the privy council was supposed to be subject to him. Most of the councilors had tried to keep Olaf out of politics for exactly this reason, not wanting a royal agent to hoard over them even when the King wasn’t there. They were especially unhappy that their measures were being subverted without the King even asking for permission.
After his coronation tour, Valdemar returned to Denmark and began preparations to wed his bethroed Anne of Burgundy. While coronation ceremonies were supposed to be displays of tradition, the wedding was to be the first display of his vision for the union as a whole.
The title “officinalis generalis” had previously only been held by Bo Jonsson Grip, the infamous Swedish kingmaker of the late 14th century.
Valdemar had started planning his own wedding even before news came that his father had died. It, and it’s subsequent feast, was to be a spectacular event. Copenhagen was chosen to host it, Hendrik van Boorselen had infamously referred to the town as “a flemish fishing village”, which Valdemar had taken quite personally. The King wished to bring grandeur to the union and planned to do this by dazzling his wedding guests. Word would spread abroad the Boorselen’s words weren’t true anymore and if everything went according to plan, the guests from the union would try to mimic the grandness when they returned home. Valdemar intended for the union to become the envy of the north, and it would all start with his wedding.
An outrageous amount of money was spent on the preparations, food, enternainment, Copenhagen castle itself was expanded to host additional guests. Valdemar enacted a special “wedding tax” in all of his Kingdoms to fund it, which would lead to some tensions. The town of Roskilde was especially opposed to the new tax and sent word to the King that they requested to be exempt from it. Supposedly, the main bridge in the town’s vicinty was in dire need of repairs and so they hoped to spend money on reparing it instead. Valdemar decried it as a bad excuse to not contribute and simply replied that no exceptions would be made until the wedding was over. When the town still resisted, Valdemar sent a contingent of soldiers to the town and threathened to lay siege to it if they didn’t comply. Roskilde caved and paid up before things escalated to bloodshed, but the incident still became knowns “the bridge rebellion”.
Although not without it’s opponents, part of the conservative Danish nobility still didn’t see Anne as a worthy bride, legitimized or not, the wedding still came to stand in the summer of 1448. It can only be described as a smashing success. Guests came not only from the three union Kingdoms, but also from various states of the Holy Roman Empire, the Teutonic Order, Poland and of course Burgundy. As Anne was crowned Queen of Denmark, Norway and Sweden by archbishops from each country, it was as if the spirit of brotherhood that had been dimming under King Eric’s rule was rekindled. A hope of the union’s future as a glorious and prosperous one was awoken. The subsequent feast lasted for eight whole days and featured a wide range of entertainments, activities and spectacular foods. Notably absent was the Queen, who only took part during it’s initial night, before being taken to Helsingør castle.
The wedding and it’s feast garnered international recognition, stories of it would spread over all Europe, instantly making people aware that the new King was a far cry from his father. Valdemar quickly got a repuptation of being modern, glorious, and perhaps most of all; willing to spend huge sums of money on entertainment and decoration, it would attract foreigners looking for employment from far away. It would also make it clear that Valdemar had no intentions of being a frugal King in any sense of the word. While Eric had been forced to spend most of his money fighting expensive rebellions, Valdemar would use them to shape the union to his liking. Whether this made him a visionary, or just a wastrel, was yet to be seen.
While in Burgundy, Valdemar had earned the romantic nickname “Ogier”, a reference to Charlemagne’s semi-legendary Danish companion. He was intensily proud of this name and prefered close friends calling him it over his own.
