The ‘Golden Age’ of the Hanseatic League 75
But at least the peace had also been confirmed by several leading members of
the Danish Council of the Realm.
Waldemar used the peace with the towns to re-establish his position.45
The Mecklenburg dukes and the Swedish king were annoyed by the separate
peace of the towns and thus made their own arrangements with Waldemar
who in turn inspired Mecklenburg hopes for their dynastic succession in
Denmark. Waldemar’s son had died early, but he had two grandsons by his
daughters, Olav, by Margaret and Håkon of Norway, and Albert iv, by Ingeborg
and Henry iii of Mecklenburg, brother to the Swedish king. Though Waldemar
never clearly favoured Albert iv—he seems also to have promised the succes-
sion to Håkon—this was sufficient to pacify the dukes, and in consequence,
the counts of Holstein were not able to continue their resistance. When
Waldemar died in 1375, after long discussions, in May 1376, the Council of the
Realm finally decided for Olav; but in fact, his mother Margaret reigned and
continued the policies of her father with even more prudence and awareness.46
After Håkon’s death in 1380, Olav was also elected Norwegian King while
Margaret took over government in Norway, too. This started the long-term per-
sonal union between Denmark and Norway.
Nothing is known about the consent of the towns in favour of the elec-
tion of Olav in 1376, but this decision was clearly in their interest, because the
possible union of Mecklenburg, Sweden, and Denmark (even under different
members of the family) would have threatened the main Hanseatic trading
routes. Thus, the towns retained their influence, especially because Margaret
extended her authority only very carefully. As a consequence, though still the
financial demands of the peace of Stralsund were not met, the towns gave back
the Øresund fortresses to Margaret in May 1385. Nevertheless, before this was
decided upon there were discussions at several assemblies of the towns’ rep-
resentatives, especially because the Prussian towns were not willing to con-
cede this and demanded the prolongation of the ‘Confederation of Cologne’.47
Indeed, the Hansetag at Stralsund in June 1385 asked the town councils to
45 Bøgh, Sejren, 35–41.
46 Bøgh, Sejren, 75 et sq.; Vivian Etting, Queen Margrete (1353–1412) and the founding of the
Nordic Union, The Northern World: North Europe and the Baltic c. 400–1700 ad, peoples,
economies and cultures, vol. 9 (Leiden: Brill, 2004); ead., “Margrete—Mistress and Master
of the North,” in Margrete I. Regent of the North. The Kalmar Union 600 Years. Essays and
Catalogue, ed. Poul Grinder-Hansen (Copenhagen: Danmarks Nationalmuseum, 1997),
18–23, 434.
47 See e.g. hr i 2, 297 §§ 2–3; events in detail: Bøgh, Sejren, 187–200.