Visborg (Wisborg) refers to a fortress in the town of Visby on the Swedish island of Gotland. Successive fortresses were built in Visby (borg means fortress or castle), though Visborg is usually in reference to the castle built here by King Eric of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden.
Duke Eric (son of King Magnus III of Sweden) appears to be the first to construct a fortress in the southwest corner of Visby in 1310 as part of a struggle between his brothers for control over the kingdoms of Sweden and Norway as well as Danish claims on Gotland; this brings Gotland under Norwegian control. King Magnus IV, son of Duke Eric, then ruled Norway and Sweden. In 1356, King Magnus gave control of Norway to his son, King Haakon VI Magnusson, though Magnus still remains as King of Sweden.
In July 1361, Danish forces under King Valdemar Atterdag landed in Gotland. On 27 July, Visby was seized and at least 2,000 peasants were killed.
In 1362, Swedish nobles led a revolt and declared Haakon as King of Sweden.
The following year is defining for the future of Scandinavia. In 1363, Haakon and Magnus reconcile and Haakon marries Margaret (Queen Margaret I of Denmark), the daughter of Valdemar; father and son agree to share the throne of Sweden. The nobles again rise up and offer the crown to Magnus's nephew Duke Albert of Mecklenburg.
In 1375, King Valdemar of Denmark dies and Margaret ensures that her and Haakon's infant son, Olaf (Olav) is named heir to the throne. Only five years later, in 1380 her husband Haakon, King of Norway, dies making Olaf heir apparent to both thrones of Norway and Denmark upon his becoming of age; until that time his mother acts as Queen Regent to both nations. However, in 1387 Olaf dies, and Margaret becomes ruler of Denmark and Norway.
In 1388, King Albert is driven from Sweden for Margaret to assume the throne. After a failed counter-assault by Albert in 1389, Albert and his son are taken prisoner. Margaret is named ruler of Sweden which angers the Mecklenburg Dukes. This marks the formation of the Kalmar Union that unifies the three crowns.
In an attempt to destabilize Denmark, the Mecklenburg's hired the Victual Brothers, pirates, to disrupt trade in 1392. They used Visby on Gotland as their fortress from which they were a costly menace to all members of the Hanseatic League. In 1395, after a treaty with the Mecklenburg's, Albert is released with the understanding that he will turn Stockholm over to Margaret in three years.
Margaret and Albert give Gotland to the Teutonic Order, with the pledge that the order will remove the Victual Brothers and their fortress in Visby. Konrad von Jungingen, the Grand Master of the Order, takes the Island in 1398 and destroys Visby.
In 1397, Margaret passes rule of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark to her grandnephew Eric of Pomerania. In 1408 the Teutonic Knights sell Visby to Erik. Three years later he begins construction of Visborg Castle, the most famous of the Visborg fortresses. In 1430, the Kalmar Union begins to fall apart. King Eric initiates a number of policies that upset nobles in all three of his kingdoms. Hostilities between the king and the nobles escalate until 1439 when Eric is deposed by Karl Knutsson Bonde (later king Charles VIII of Sweden) in Sweden and by King Christopher III, Erik's nephew, in Denmark; Eric was offered the throne of Norway alone, but declined. In response he took up permanent residence in Visborg Castle, but he never relinquished his claim to the throne. Though by 1440, he had no power outside of Gotland.
Christopher reigned as sole monarch of the Kalmar Union until he died in 1448 without an heir. Swedish nobles took the opportunity to crown Karl Knuttsson as King of Sweden and Norway; and Christian I became King of Denmark. This began a long period of warfare between the kings of Denmark and Sweden over who would once again rule over the three kingdoms of the Kalmar Union. With tensions rising, Gotland became an immediate point of conflict. In 1448, Charles launched an invasion of the island and was able to secure all but Visby because of the fortifications at Visborg, still inhabited by the deposed King Eric. Eric made a deal with Christian I in 1448, because they were family, in which he agreed to cede Gotland to the Danes and renounce his claims to the throne in return for safe passage to Pomerania. Christian agreed and in 1449, a Danish army reinforced the defenses of Visborg by sneaking in under cover of darkness. As the Danes moved in the Swedes evacuated the island. As promised Eric was given safe passage to Pomerania where he ruled the Duchy of Stolp as Eric I until his death in 1459.
Despite numerous challenges, Denmark retained continuous rule of the island until a peace treaty [ further explanation needed ] signed in 1645 granted it to Sweden for 30 years. Denmark gained it back in 1676, but three years later Denmark signed another peace treaty [ further explanation needed ] with Sweden in which they agreed to return Gotland. As the Danish soldiers were leaving Visby that year, they blew up the fortress of Visborg. Some fragments of its structure still can be seen overlooking the harbor of Visby.
Prince Oscar of Sweden, Duke of Gotland and second in line to the Swedish throne, married without his father's permission, thereby relinquishing his right to succession and royal titles. On 2 February 1892 he was made the first Count of Wisborg by his mother's (Sophia of Nassau) brother Adolphe, Grand Duke of Luxembourg with reference to the old fortress of his former dukedom. Including Oscar there have been four such counts created, three of them Oscar's grandnephews in the 20th century, all former Swedish princes heirs who lost their Swedish titles for marrying without the King of Sweden's consent.
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Some versions of F. W. Murnau's 1922 classic horror film Nosferatu take place in Bremen, Germany. In fact the original work of Murnau was supposed to be set in Wisborg (the better restorations of the film use Wisborg, some of the worst use Bremen and Bram Stoker's names for the characters). The discrepancy results from the work being pieced together from various versions after translation in various countries. The work was filmed in Delft, the Netherlands and Slovakia, so it isn't clear why Bremen was chosen by the later inter-title makers – Bremen doesn't have a beach to explain some of the scenes in Nosferatu. That being said, Murnau's selection of Wisborg is unexplained as well. It is unclear whether he was using Wisborg since no city actually exists with the name or if he understood the relation to Visborg and the town name holds a deeper significance.
The Kalmar Union was a personal union in Scandinavia, agreed at Kalmar in Sweden as designed by Queen Margaret of Denmark. From 1397 to 1523, it joined under a single monarch the three kingdoms of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, together with Norway's overseas colonies.
Margaret I was Queen regnant of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden from the late 1380s until her death, and the founder of the Kalmar Union that joined the Scandinavian kingdoms together for over a century. She had been queen consort of Norway from 1363 to 1380 and of Sweden from 1363 to 1364 by marriage to Haakon VI. Margaret was known as a wise, energetic and capable leader, who governed with "farsighted tact and caution", earning the nickname "Semiramis of the North". Also known famously and derisively as "King Breechless", one of several derogatory nicknames once thought to have been invented by her rival Albert, King of Sweden, she was also called "Lady King" by her subjects, widely used in recognition of her capabilities. Knut Gjerset calls her "the first great ruling queen in European history".
Erik of Pomerania ruled over the Kalmar Union from 1396 until 1439. He was initially co-ruler with his great-aunt Margaret I until her death in 1412. Erik is known as Erik III as King of Norway (1389–1442), Erik VII as King of Denmark (1396–1439) and has been called Erik XIII as King of Sweden. Erik was ultimately deposed from all three kingdoms of the union, but in 1449 he inherited one of the partitions of the Duchy of Pomerania and ruled it as duke until his death in 1459. His epithet of Pomerania was a pejorative intended to insinuate that he did not belong in Scandinavia.
Albert was King of Sweden from 1364 to 1389 and Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin from 1384 to 1412.
Magnus Eriksson was King of Sweden from 1319 to 1364, King of Norway as Magnus VII from 1319 to 1355, and ruler of Scania from 1332 to 1360. By adversaries he has been called Magnus Smek.
Haakon VI, also known as Håkan Magnusson, was King of Norway from 1343 until his death and King of Sweden between 1362 and 1364. He is sometimes known as Haakon Magnusson the Younger to distinguish him from his great-grandfather, Haakon V.
Valdemar IV Atterdag, Valdemar Christoffersen or Waldemar was King of Denmark from 1340 to 1375. He is mostly known for his reunion of Denmark after the bankruptcy and mortgaging of the country to finance wars under previous rulers.
Albert II, Duke of Mecklenburg was a feudal lord in Northern Germany on the shores of the Baltic Sea. He reigned as the head of the House of Mecklenburg. His princely seat was located in Schwerin beginning in the 1350s.
The Battle of Visby was fought in 1361 near the town of Visby on the island of Gotland, between the forces of the Danish king and the Gutnish country yeomen. The Danish force was victorious.
Ingeborg of Norway was a Norwegian princess and by marriage a Swedish royal duchess with a position in the regency governments in Norway (1319–1327) and Sweden (1319–1326) during the minority of her son, King Magnus Eriksson. In 1318–1319, she was Sweden's de facto ruler, and from 1319 until 1326, she was Sweden's first de jure female regent. Her role in northern European history is considered of major importance.
The Sudreim claim was an entitlement to the throne of the Kingdom of Norway held among members of the powerful and influential House of Sudreim in the late Middle Ages.
Sigurd Jonsson was a Norwegian nobleman, knight and the supreme leader of Norway during two interregnums in the mid-15th century.
The House of Estridsen was a dynasty that provided the kings of Denmark from 1047 to 1412. The dynasty is named after its ancestor Estrid Svendsdatter. The dynasty is sometimes called the Ulfinger, after Estrid's husband, Ulf Jarl. The dynasty also provided three medieval rulers of Sweden and one of Norway. Their family coat of arms became the coat of arms of Denmark and thereby influenced the coat of arms of Tallinn and the coat of arms of Estonia.
Ingeborg of Denmark was the eldest daughter of Valdemar IV of Denmark and his wife Helvig of Schleswig. By marriage, she was Duchess of Mecklenburg, although she died before her husband succeeded her father-in-law. She was a potential heiress to the Danish throne and was the older sister of Margaret I of Denmark.
Eric I, Duke of Mecklenburg was the eldest son and heir apparent of Albert, King of Sweden. Eric played a significant role in his father's attempts to secure and reclaim the Swedish throne. Eric and Albert were defeated in battle of Åsle in 1389 and imprisoned by Queen Margaret I of Denmark. They were released in 1395 against a ransom guaranteed by the Hanseatic League.
Events from the 14th century in Denmark.
The First Swedish–Norwegian union, was a personal union of the separate kingdoms of Sweden and Norway together with Norway's overseas colonies .The union was founded by King Magnus IV of Sweden in 1319 and dissolved in 1355, briefly re-uniting in 1362 until 1365.
The War in Gotland (1448–1449) was an invasion of the island of Gotland by King Karl Knutsson in 1448.
The Inter-Nordic conflict of 1302–1319 was a long-term conflict in Sweden, where Birger Magnusson and his brothers, dukes Valdemar and Eric, were the central figures. The conflict also involved the kingdoms of Denmark and Norway.