A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Margaret, the Semiramis of the North
MARGARET,
The Semiramis of the North, third daughter of Waldemar, King of Denmark, was born in 1353. At the age of six she was contracted to Haguin, king of Norway; but the Swedes, of whom his father was king, insisted on his renouncing the alliance; and to oblige them, he consented to demand Elizabeth of Holstein in marriage, whom he espoused by proxy. But, on her voyage to Norway, a storm drove her off the coast of Denmark, where she was detained by Waldemar, until his daughter was married to Haguin in 1366.
Waldemar died in 1375, leaving only two daughters, of whom Margaret was the younger. Olans, the son of Margaret, was at that time king of Norway; and as the grandson of Magnus, who had however been deposed, he had some claims on the crown of Sweden. The eldest daughter, Ingeburga, wife of Henry, Duke of Mecklenburg, had also a son; but the right of succession was then confused and uncertain, and Margaret contrived that the election should be decided in favour of her son, then eleven years old, who was placed on the throne, under her guidance as regent. Haguin died soon after; and Olaus died in 1387, at the age of twenty-two; with him the male line was extinct, and custom had not yet authorized the election of a woman. Henry of Mecklenburg omitted nothing that could advance his pretensions; but Margaret's genius, and well-placed liberality, won over the bishops and clergy, which was in effect gaining the greater part of the people, and she was unanimously elected Queen of Denmark.
But her ambition grasped at the crown of Norway also; she sent deputies to solicit the states, gained over the chief people by money, and found means to render herself mistress of the army and garrisons; so that, had the nation been otherwise disposed, she would in the end have succeeded; but they readily yielded to her wishes. The Norwegians, perceiving that the succession was in danger of being extinct, entreated her to secure it by an advantageous marriage; but she received the proposal coldly. To satisfy, however, their desire, she consented to appoint a successor; but fixed on one so young, that she would have full time to satisfy her ambition before he could be of age to take any share in the government; yet he was the true heir, and grandson of her sister.
She recommended herself so strongly to the Swedes, who were oppressed by their king, Albert, who had gone to war with her, that they renounced their allegiance to that prince, and made her a solemn offer of their crown, thinking that her good sense would set bounds to her ambition, and prevent any encroachment on their rights. She accepted the offer, marched to their assistance, defeated Albert, who was deposed, in 1388, after a war of seven years. She then imprisoned him another seven years, till he made a solemn renunciation of his crown, and retired to the dominions of his brother, the Duke of Mecklenburg. Margaret then assumed the reins of government in Sweden, and was distinguished by the appellation of the Semiramis of the North.
In 1395, she associated with her in the three elective kingdoms, her great-nephew Eric, Duke of Pomerania. She governed with absolute authority; and when reminded of her oaths by the nobility, who added, "they had the records of them," she replied, "I advise you to keep them carefully; as I shall keep the castles and cities of my kingdom, and all the rights belonging to my dignity."
At the treaty of Calmar, concluded in 1397, she endeavoured to make the union of the three kingdoms perpetual, and introduced Eric separately to all the deputies. She represented to them, with eloquence and address, the advantages that would accrue from the consolidation of the three nations into one kingdom; that it would put an end to the frequent wars which desolated them, and render them entirely masters of the commerce of the Baltic; keep in awe the Hanse-towns, grown powerful by the divisions of her people; and acquire for them all the advantages resulting from a perfect conformity of laws, customs, and interests. The majesty of her person, the strength of her arguments and her eloquence, gained over the deputies. They approved and established a fundamental law, which was received by the three nations, and solemnly confirmed by oath. This was the celebrated law called the union of Calmar, which only served to show how impotent are human wishes, though conceived with wisdom and forwarded by address.
Margaret is charged with only one political error, that of suffering Olaus to grant the important duchy of Keswick to the house of Holstein, whose enmity they thus wished to do away, but which proved a thorn in her side till the death of the duke; when she, by her vigorous measures, forced his successors to hold their possessions as a fief from Denmark.
Distinguished at the same time for moderation, solid judgment, enterprising and persevering ambition, Margaret receives different characters from Danish and Swedish historians. The latter were prejudiced against her, because she abridged the power of the nobles and favoured the clergy; but she was exceeded by none in prudence, policy, and true magnanimity. She died suddenly, in 1412, at the age of fifty-nine.
Though merciful, she made the wisest regulations for strict justice, and to prevent offenders being screened from punishment. Private oppressions and abuses she did away, and decreed that assistance should be given to all who were shipwrecked on her coasts; for which acts of humanity she provided rewards by law. She exerted all her power to repress piracies; and by her regulations laid the foundations for future commerce. It was in her reign that we first meet with the mention of the copper mines of Sweden. In fact, she equalled the most famous politicians, Her father, perceiving while she was yet a child her surprising elevation of soul and mental resources, said that nature had been deceived in forming her, and instead of a woman had made a hero.