Administrative division of Denmark in medieval times showing herreder and sysler. The entire country was divided into herreder, shown outlined in red. Coloured areas show Jutland's syssel divisions. Zealand's four ecclesiastic sysler are not included.
The three lands of Denmark historically formed the Danish kingdom from its unification and consolidation in the 10th century:
Each of the lands retained their own thing (ting) and statute laws until late medieval time (Jutlandic Law, Zealandic Law and Scanian Law). Although Denmark was a unified kingdom, the custom of rendering homage to the King at the three individual assemblies remained. A remnant is the current division of Denmark into two High Court districts, the Eastern and Western High Court.
During the early 19th century, Zealand and Fyn became administratively united as Østifterne with a provincial assembly in Roskilde. Jutland, The Islands and Bornholm remains an informal subdivision still used, notably in meteorology and public statistics. Bornholm is the only part to represent Scania after the rest of the region was lost to Sweden in 1658. (Bornholm was also lost in 1658, but was recovered two years later.)
In recent decades, the less specific division between Eastern and Western Denmark has also become common, for example when describing logistic, economic and political patterns. Funen may be attributed to both the eastern and western part of the country, the border line being either the Great Belt or the Little Belt.
Zealand at 7,031 km2 is the largest and most populous island in Denmark proper. Zealand had a population of 2,319,705 on 1 January 2020.
The provinces of Sweden are historical, geographical and cultural regions. Sweden has 25 provinces; they have no administrative function but remain historical legacies and a means of cultural identification pertaining to dialects and folklore.
Skåneland or Skånelandene (Danish) is a region on the southern Scandinavian peninsula. It includes the Swedish provinces of Blekinge, Halland, and Scania. The Danish island of Bornholm is traditionally also included. Skåneland has no official recognition or function and the term is not in common usage. Equivalent terms in English and Latin are "the Scanian Provinces" and "Terrae Scaniae" respectively. The term is mostly used in historical contexts and not in daily speech. In Danish, Skånelandene is used more often. The terms have no political implications as the region is not a political entity but a cultural region, without officially established administrative borders.
Götaland is one of three lands of Sweden and comprises ten provinces. Geographically it is located in the south of Sweden, bounded to the north by Svealand, with the deep woods of Tiveden, Tylöskog and Kolmården marking the border.
The lands of Sweden are three traditional and historical regions of the country, each consisting of several provinces. The division into lands goes back to the foundation of modern Sweden, when Götaland, the land of the Geats, merged with Svealand, the land of the Swedes, to form the country, while Norrland and Österland were added later. The lands have no administrative function but are still seen by many Swedes as an important part of their identity.
The Treaty of Roskilde was negotiated at Høje Taastrup Church and signed (NS) during the Second Northern War between Frederick III of Denmark–Norway and Karl X Gustav of Sweden in the Danish city of Roskilde. After a devastating defeat, Denmark–Norway was forced to give up a third of its territory to save the rest, the ceded lands comprising Blekinge, Bornholm, Bohuslän (Båhuslen), Scania (Skåne) and Trøndelag, as well as her claims to Halland.
The Second Northern War (1655–60), was fought between Sweden and its adversaries the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (1655–60), the Tsardom of Russia (1656–58), Brandenburg-Prussia (1657–60), the Habsburg monarchy (1657–60) and Denmark–Norway. The Dutch Republic waged an informal trade war against Sweden and seized the colony of New Sweden in 1655, but was not a recognized part of the Polish–Danish alliance.
Sweyn III Grathe was the king of Denmark between 1146 and 1157, in shifting alliances with Canute V and his own cousin Valdemar I. In 1157, the three agreed to a tripartition of Denmark. Sweyn attempted to kill his rivals at the peace banquet, and was subsequently defeated by Valdemar I at the Battle of Grathe Heath and killed.
The Treaty of Copenhagen was signed on 27 May 1660, and marked the conclusion of the Second Northern War between the Swedish Empire and the alliance of Denmark-Norway and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. This treaty was a smaller follow-up treaty to that of the Treaty of Roskilde, which decisively delineated the mutually recognized boundaries of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway; boundaries which are almost exactly the same to this day.
The Diocese of Lund is a diocese within the Church of Sweden which corresponds to the provinces of Blekinge and Skåne. There are 217 parishes within the diocese, the most significant number in any of the dioceses of the Church of Sweden. The present bishop of Lund, Johan Tyrberg, succeeded Antje Jackelén in 2014.
The traditional districts of Denmark differ from the country's administrative country subdivisions nowadays, as their existence and extent are usually not defined by law. The Danes will often refer to their traditional districts if asked where they come from, rather than the administrative unit which has been changed several times.
The March Across the Belts was a military campaign waged by the Swedish Empire across the ice between the Danish islands. It lasted between 30 January and 15 February 1658, ending with a decisive victory for Swedish King Charles X Gustav during his first Danish war.
The Dano-Swedish War of 1657–1658, known in Denmark as the First Karl Gustav War in Norway as Krabbes Feud and in Sweden as Karl Gustav's First Danish War, was a conflict between Sweden and Denmark–Norway during the Second Northern War. In 1657, Charles X of Sweden and his Swedish army were bogged down in Poland. Frederick III of Denmark-Norway saw an opportunity to recover the territories lost in 1645 and attacked Sweden. The outbreak of war with Denmark provided Charles with an excuse to withdraw from the Polish campaign and move against Denmark.
The Dano-Swedish War of 1658–1660 was a war between Denmark–Norway and Sweden, with the former backed by the Dutch Republic and Poland. It is known in Denmark as the Second Karl Gustav War, in Norway as Bjelkes Feud in Sweden as Karl Gustav's Second Danish War, and in the Netherlands as the Swedish-Dutch War.
Smedstorp Castle is a castle in Tomelilla Municipality, Scania, in southern Sweden.
Blekinge (Swedish pronunciation:[ˈblêːkɪŋɛ], is one of the traditional Swedish provinces, situated in the southern coast of the geographic region of Götaland, in southern Sweden. It borders Småland, Scania and the Baltic Sea. It is the country's second-smallest province by area, and the smallest province located on the mainland.
Joachim Gersdorff was a Danish politician, from 1650 to 1660 Steward of the Danish Realm. It was Gersdorff who negotiated the Treaty of Roskilde on Denmark's part during the Second Northern War, a war he had himself been in favour of entering. Through this treaty, which was concluded in Roskilde on 8 March 1658 (NS), the eastern Danish provinces of Scania, Halland, Blekinge and Bornholm were ceded to Sweden.
Events from the year 1658 in Denmark.
In the period preceding the Municipal Reform of 1970, Denmark was divided into around 170 hundreds. In the timeframe 1793 through 1970, each parish was functioning as a municipality within their respective hundreds. The hundreds were in turn part of a county. This was changed in 1970, when the parishes were merged into larger municipalities sometimes crossing hundred borders, and the hundreds fell out of administrative use.
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