CHAPTER XXXV.

NORWAY AS A PROVINCE OF DENMARK (1537-1814).

During the reign of Christian III. the Lutheran faith was introduced into Denmark, and its introduction into Norway followed as a matter of course. The new Danish ecclesiastical law, called the Ordinance, was also made to apply to the provinces. The landed estates which had belonged to the Church were confiscated by the crown or distributed among royal favorites. In fact, the plunder of churches and monasteries was the only evidence of religious zeal which the Danes exhibited in Norway. The Catholic bishops were removed; but many of the priests were allowed to remain, as Lutheran pastors were hard to obtain and were needed at home. Gradually, however, the change took place; and everywhere aroused discontent among the peasantry. Many parishes were left, for long periods, without any kind of religious teaching, and when Lutheran pastors were sent up from Denmark, they were usually ignorant or vicious men who could not be used at home. Ex-soldiers, ex-sailors, bankrupt traders, and all sorts of vagabonds, who were in some way disqualified for making a living, were thought to be good enough to preach the word of God in Norway. The majority of them were utterly destitute of theological training, and it is said that there were some who could not even read. No one, then, ought to wonder at the reception they received from their parishioners. Some of them were killed, others driven away and horribly beaten. At last physical strength became the prime requisite for holding a pastorate in the Norse mountain valleys, and the surest road to popularity for a parson was to thrash the refractory members of his congregation. That inspired respect and inclined the rest more favorably toward his preaching. Great credit deserves the first Lutheran bishop in Bergen, Gjeble Pedersson, for his efforts to educate a native Protestant clergy. The Danish language, however, remained the language of the Norwegian church; all religious instruction was imparted in it, and at the present day, all who lay claim to culture in Norway speak Danish.

The depredations committed by the Danish nobles, during the reign of Christian III., defy description. It was the darkest period in the history of Norway, and, as far as the people were concerned, very nearly the darkest, too, in the history of Denmark. The power of the nobles reached such a height that the king himself was merely the tool of their will and was used by them, as an instrument for the most cruel and heartless oppression.

The discomfiture of the Luebeckers in the Count's Feud was the first serious check which the Hansa received in the North, and it never regained its former power. The Danish nobleman, Christopher Valkendorf, who was governor (_Lensherre_) in Bergen, succeeded in destroying the monopoly of the Germans in the fish trade, which now fell into the hands of native merchants.

Christian III. was succeeded by his son Frederick II. (1559-1588), a vain and worthless man, whose fondness for drink shortened his life. He waged a long and costly war with Sweden about the right to carry the Swedish "three crowns" in the Danish coat-of-arms. The Norwegians, although their sympathies were at the outset with the Swedes, suffered greatly from the inroads of hostile armies, which burned cities and ravaged the land. Sweden, regarding Norway merely as a Danish province, thought to injure its foe, by destroying whatever belonged to him or acknowledged his sway. Thus the cathedral of Hamar was burned; the fertile districts of Aker were harried, and the city of Drontheim was taken. The Danes burned Oslo in order to prevent it from falling into the hands of the Swedes.

Two Danish governors, Ludwig and Erik Munk, became notorious for their unheard of cruelties and extortions. The peasants sent repeated complaints to the king and threatened rebellion. At last Erik Munk was sentenced to return all taxes which he had illegally collected, and to restore to a peasant his property, of which he had unlawfully taken possession. Later he was deprived of his office, and committed suicide while in prison.

The city of Frederickstad, which was forced into existence, after the burning of the ancient Sarpsborg, bears the name of Frederick II.

Christian IV. (1588-1648) had not inherited his father's infirmities. He was a man of many excellent qualities; desirous of furthering the welfare of his subjects, but crippled in his efforts by the opposition of the arrogant nobility. What particularly deserves notice was his good disposition toward the Norsemen. Unlike his predecessors, he paid frequent visits to their country, once even penetrating within the Arctic Circle. He listened to the complaints of the people, and punished with fines and imprisonment the Danish officials who ventured to exceed their rights. The old law of Magnus Law-Mender which, on account of the change of the language, was now hard to comprehend, he abolished, and elaborated, in its stead, a Norse law, some regulations of which are yet in force. Also the ecclesiastical law or Ordinance was altered and adapted to the needs of the country. The present capital of Norway, Christiania, was founded by him, as also the city of Christiansand. The discovery of silver at Kongsberg, and of copper at Roeraas, gave an impetus to the mining industries of the country, and thereby started the growth of two small towns.

By his kindness, his love of justice, and his interest in their affairs, Christian IV. won the hearts of the Norsemen, as no king of the house of Oldenborg, before or since. Sometimes he dropped in at a peasant's wedding, and drank the health of the bride; watched the games upon the German wharf in Bergen, and attended a party at the apothecary's where the jolly guests smashed all the windows. He had a pair of eyes which nothing escaped; and an active and alert mind which turned his observations to good account. All economical questions interested him; whatever he undertook, he supervised with the most minute care every detail of its execution. With level and square in his pocket he walked about testing the soundness of the work of his carpenters, masons, and architects.

Three great wars, two of which concerned Norway, disturbed the reign of Christian IV. The first, the so-called Kalmar War (1511-1513), occasioned an invasion of Scotch mercenaries hired by the king of Sweden. These came, however, to grief at Kringen in Guldbrandsdale, where the peasants attacked them, and at the first shot killed their commander, Colonel Sinclair. Of the entire force, numbering nine hundred, not one man, it is said, escaped. More fortunate was Colonel Moennikhofen, who landed with eight hundred Dutch mercenaries in Soendmoere, and made his way, ravaging and plundering, across the frontier. The cause of this war was the assumption, on the part of the Swedish king, Charles IX., of the title of King of the Lapps, and his claim to the Norwegian province of Finmark. Charles died during the hostilities, and his son Gustavus Adolphus made peace at Knaeroed, abandoning both the claim and the title.

The participation of Christian IV. in the Thirty Years' War, as the ally of the oppressed German Protestants, brought him no glory. After his defeat by Tilly at Lutter and Barenberge, the imperial armies overran Sleswick and Jutland, and at the Peace of Luebeck (1629), Christian had to promise nevermore to meddle in German politics. After this humiliation, he could not see, without alarm, the progress of the Swedes in Germany; and could not refrain from placing obstacles in their way. The war was being continued, after the death of Gustavus Adolphus, by able generals and diplomats, who resolved to anticipate the Danish king in his efforts to thwart them. Before Christian suspected that his intentions were revealed, General Torstenson crossed the southern frontier, invaded Holstein, and advanced into Jutland (1643). The Danes were utterly unable to resist the conquering host, and though they hotly contested two naval battles, their inability to cope with the Swedes soon became apparent. Peace was, therefore, concluded at Broemsebro; and Norway was made to pay the costs of Danish incapacity and miscalculation. The two great Norse provinces Jemteland and Herjedale were ceded to Sweden; as also the island of Gottland, which had latterly belonged to Denmark (1647).

In Norway this war was named Hannibal's Feud, after the viceroy Hannibal Sehested, a son-in-law of the king, who, with the aid of the brave parson, Kjeld Stub, guarded the frontier.

One might have supposed that the nobles, at the death of Christian IV. would have rested content with the excessive privileges which they already possessed, and allowed his son Frederick III. (1648-1670) to ascend the throne, without stripping himself of the last remnant of his power. But as long as there was any thing left to grab, it seemed worth grabbing. Frederick III. was, therefore, compelled to grant a more humiliating charter than any of his predecessors, and would have been, if he had long acquiesced in the agreement, a mere shadow king. The arrogance and greed of the nobles, fostered by long security in aggression, became, however, the cause of their downfall. The Royal Council, which was the real governing power in the state, had the imprudence to declare war against Sweden, on the strength of a rumor, that the Swedish king, Charles X. Gustavus, had suffered an overwhelming defeat in Poland. This rumor proved to be false, and Charles conquered in a short time both Jutland and Funen, and threatened Copenhagen. Denmark was completely at his mercy, and the Council was compelled to buy peace at Roskilde (1658) by the cession of Skaane, Halland, Blekinge, Bornholm, and the Norwegian provinces, Viken and Drontheim. And yet in Norway the only success of the war had been won, the Norwegian general Bjelke having conquered Jemteland. It seemed as if Charles Gustavus, after having obtained these enormous advantages, regretted that he had not made an end of Denmark altogether. He hesitated to quit Danish territory, renewed the war, and was, by aid of the Dutch and Austrians, who feared his overweening power, defeated at Nyborg and repulsed at Copenhagen. In Norway the Troenders revolted successfully against the Swedish rule, and the Bornholmers likewise drove away the invaders. At the Peace of Copenhagen (1660), Charles Gustavus was forced to relinquish his hold upon these provinces, while keeping his other conquests.

It was plain that it was chiefly the nobles composing the Royal Council who were responsible for the degradation which these wars had brought upon Denmark. And yet, although they were in possession of great wealth, gained by pillaging the lower estates, they refused to bear any share of the public burdens. The condition of the country was now so desperate and the misery so great that but a breath was needed to kindle the smouldering indignation into flame. The public debt had reached an enormous amount, and there was no prospect of paying it without increased taxation. The king then summoned a diet to meet him at Copenhagen, and invited representatives of the clergy and the bourgeoisie to participate in its deliberations. These entered into an alliance with him against the nobles, and the latter, fearing an outbreak of violence, did not at first dare offer any resistance. When they picked up their courage again, the citizens of Copenhagen locked the gates and compelled them to come to terms. It was then resolved that Denmark should henceforth be an hereditary kingdom, and that the Royal Council should be abolished. All fiefs were revoked and a new system of administration was introduced, with royal officials, responsible to the king. It was agreed that a constitution should be adopted, and its elaboration was, very unwisely, entrusted to the king. Frederick III. was thus master of the situation, and as the matter seemed to have been left to his discretion, he preferred to rule without any constitution. The so-called Royal Law, which he endeavored to pass off as such, was rather intended to make his power secure, than to subject it to limitations. Thus absolutism pure and simple was introduced into Denmark (1660). The Danes had jumped from the frying-pan into the fire; and yet, though their condition was not enviable, there was a relief in having one master instead of many.

In Norway the effects of absolutism were chiefly perceptible in placing the country more nearly upon an equal footing with Denmark, and in producing a somewhat improved administration. The nobles continued to hold many lucrative offices, but the king was able to exercise a more restraining influence over them now that his authority was absolute. The fiefs were changed into counties (_amter_) and administered by royal officials with well-defined functions. A chance was presented to citizens to rise in the service of the state, and was improved by several able Norsemen, among whom the naval hero, Kort Adeler, was preeminent. After an honorable career in Dutch and Venetian service, against the Turks, he was made admiral in the Danish Navy, and greatly increased its efficiency.

Frederick III. visited Norway but once. The city of Frederickshald bears his name.

Although the royal revenues had been quintupled by the revocation of the fiefs, Frederick's son, Christian V. (1670-1699), was always in want of money. He spent his time in all sorts of costly amusements, hoping to rival the splendor of the French king, Louis XIV., whom he had taken for his model. In order to counteract the influence of the old Danish nobility, which, on account of its wealth, was yet formidable, Christian V. created a new court nobility of counts and barons, most of whom were Germans. German became the language of the court, and lands and lucrative offices were given away to German favorites. In order to procure money wherewith to imitate the glittering vices of Versailles, Christian V. sold his subjects, both Norwegians and Danes, as mercenaries for foreign service. He had an able adviser in his chancellor, Griffenfeld, who rose from poverty to the highest position, in order as suddenly to be plunged into misery. His enemies aroused the fickle king's suspicions as to his loyalty; and he was condemned to death, but his sentence, on the scaffold, was commuted to imprisonment for life. "Oh mercy more cruel than death," he exclaimed. Toward the end of his life he was, however, pardoned.

Christian V. had a new code of laws elaborated for Norway, which is yet partly in force. He waged a futile war with Sweden which cost blood and treasure, but brought no advantage to either of the combatants.

Frederick IV. (1699-1730) ascended the throne like his father, by right of inheritance, but did not in other respects follow in his footsteps. He was a shrewd, but ignorant man; penurious, industrious, and heartless. By his feud with the Duke of Holstein, he came into collision with the latter's brother-in-law, Charles XII., of Sweden, and after a brief and unsuccessful campaign, made peace on unfavorable terms at Travendal (1700). When, however, Charles XII., in 1709, lost the battle of Pultawa, in Russia, Frederick thought his opportunity had come for regaining what he had lost; wherefore he entered into an alliance with Russia and Poland and began the Great Northern War (1709-1720). Sixteen thousand Danish troops invaded Skaane, but were beaten by the Swedish general, Magnus Stenbock (1710). In the naval battle of Kjoegebugt, the Norseman, Ivar Hvitfeldt, who commanded the ship Dannebrog, made a valiant attack upon the Swedish fleet. His ship, however, took fire, and although he might have saved himself by beaching it, such a course would have endangered the rest of the Danish fleet, which lay nearer shore. Hvitfeldt, therefore stayed where he was, sending volley after volley against the Swedes, while death was staring him in the face. When the fire reached the powder magazine, he, with five hundred men, was blown into the air.

On his return to Sweden in 1715 Charles attempted to conquer Norway and penetrated by three different routes into the country. He himself commanded the division which entered Hoeland (1716). The Norwegian Colonel Kruse met him with 200 men, who fought with such heroism, that Charles, brave as he was himself, was filled with admiration.

"Has my brother, King Frederick, many such officers as thou?" he asked the colonel, as he lay wounded at his feet.

"Oh, yes," answered Kruse, "he has plenty of them, and I am far from being among the ablest."

In his blindness, Frederick had, in order to raise money, hired out a large number of the country's defenders as mercenaries, leaving only a wretched little, half-naked and half-starved force of 6,000 men under General Luetzow. Charles with his well-drilled troops expected to make short work of such paltry opponents. But he failed to take account of the Norsemen's temper. Every man, young and old--nay, many a woman, too, was ready to defend hearth and home against the foe. Colonel Loewen, whom he had sent with 600 men to destroy the silver mines of Kongsberg, was captured with 160 Swedes, by the Norsemen at the parsonage in Ringerike, after having been hoodwinked by the parson's wife, the intrepid and quick-witted Anna Kolbjoernsdatter. When, suspecting that he was trapped, Loewen put the pistol to her head, she asked, coolly:

"Do you serve your king in order to kill old women?"

Charles captured Christiania, but could accomplish nothing against the fortress of Akershus. The citizens of Frederickshald burned their town, so that it might not afford a shelter for the Swedes against the cannon of the fortress Fredericksteen. Here the two brave and patriotic brothers, Peter and Hans Kolbjoernsson, half-brothers of Anna, distinguished themselves, and, with their hardy volunteers, harassed the enemy incessantly. It became evident to Charles that he could not take the Norse fortresses without artillery, and he expected a convoy from home with field-cannon and other munitions of war. But this expectation, too, failed. His fleet was destroyed in Dynekilen by a daring deed of Tordenskjold, the greatest naval hero that Norway has produced. Tordenskjold, having learned from some fishermen that the Swedish admiral was to have a banquet on board, that night, concluded that the officers would scarcely be in condition for fighting, after having risen from the table. He cried to his lieutenant, Peter Grib:

"I hear that the Swedish admiral is going to have a carousal on his fleet. Would it not be advisable if we went with our ships and became his guests, though unbidden? The pilot says we have wind."

Under a rattling fire from the shore batteries Tordenskjold ran into Dynekilen and attacked the hostile fleet. He was right in his supposition that the enemy had imbibed heavily. But the danger sobered them. After three hours of heavy cannonading, the Swedish admiral capitulated with 44 ships and 60 cannon. When this intelligence reached the king, he began his retreat from Norway. But he could not give up the thought of conquering a country which was so poorly equipped for defence. In 1718 he sent General Armfelt with 14,000 men against Drontheim and moved, himself, against Fredericksteen with 22,000. The outer redoubt was stormed and taken and trenches were dug toward the main fortress. In one of these trenches Charles was standing, when he was hit in the head by a bullet from the fortress and fell dead. Armfelt, on receiving this intelligence, immediately retreated toward the frontier, but lost a great number of men, who froze and starved to death upon the mountains. Thus the war was at an end, and peace was concluded in Fredensborg (1720).

The fortitude of the Norsemen had saved Denmark from a great danger. Frederick IV. rewarded their staunchness and intrepidity by subjecting them to further pillaging. In order to raise money for Danish needs, he sold all the churches of Norway to private parties, contending that, if the people owned them, they must have deeds and papers proving their right of property. By this miserable quibble, he pretended to give a show of legality to his spoliations. The trade with Finmark he sold to three citizens of Copenhagen, who interpreted their monopoly as a license for unlimited extortion. The population sank into misery and degradation.

During the reign of Frederick IV. lived the Norseman Ludvig Holberg, who was born in Bergen, 1684. He spent his life, however, in Denmark, writing a great number of excellent comedies, in Moliere's style, mock-heroic poems, satires and historical works. The life of the first half of the eighteenth century is vividly portrayed and satirized in his writings.

Christian VI. (1730-1746) was an extreme pietist, and surrounded himself with Germans who sympathized with his morbid and lugubrious religion. He was lavish in his expenditures, built costly palaces, and introduced a rigid ceremonial at his court. The one meritorious act of his reign was the issue of a decree ordering confirmation in the Lutheran faith, and thus indirectly compelling all classes of the people to learn to read. Well-meant, but misdirected, were his efforts to encourage trade and manufactures, and positively disastrous was his decree forbidding the inhabitants of southern Norway to import grain from any other country than Denmark.

Frederick V. (1746-1766) was a man of kindly nature, but limited intelligence. He opened the theatres, which his father had closed, and abolished the many arduous regulations for the keeping of the Sabbath. He came within a hair of having war with Russia, and was only saved by the murder of the emperor, Peter III. But the great preparations he had made necessitated an increase of taxation, which especially fell heavily upon the poor Norse peasants. In Bergen, the "extra-tax" led to a revolt. The peasants broke into the city, and insulted and maltreated the magistrates, whereupon the tax was abolished. The Norwegian Military Academy in Christiania was founded during the reign of this king, as also the Academy of Sciences in Drontheim.

Christian VII. (1766-1808) succeeded to the throne at the age of seventeen, and wasted his youth in the wildest dissipation. His vitality was accordingly used up before he reached mature manhood, and insanity followed. During a journey abroad, he became much attached to his body physician, a German, named Struensee, and, after his return, made him prime-minister, and left the government entirely in his hands. Struensee was a man of great ability, penetrated with the ideas of Voltaire and Rousseau, and rather headlong in the reforms which he introduced. The nobles and the queen-dowager, Juliana Maria, hated him, and, by their influence, the king was induced to sign an order for his arrest. From the prison to the block the road was short. A favorite of the queen-dowager, named Ove Guldberg, carried on the government during the next twelve years, and revoked all Struensee's liberal measures. He endeavored to abolish the very name of Norseman, insisting that no such nationality existed, all being citizens of the Danish State.

During the reign of the last three kings, Norway had, owing to the peace, steadily advanced in material prosperity. The population had, in one hundred years, nearly doubled, being, in 1767, 723,000; and the merchant marine had, since the destruction of the Hanseatic monopoly, grown from 50 to 1,150 ships. A class of native officials, educated at the University of Copenhagen, began to replace the Danish, and, by the sale of the estates of the crown, the number of freeholders among the peasants was largely increased.

As the insanity of the king made him unable to attend to the government, his son, Crown Prince Frederick, became, in 1784, the responsible regent, and made an excellent selection of a premier in Andreas Bernsdorff (1784-1797). This capable and enlightened man piloted Denmark and Norway safely through the stormy times of the French Revolution. In the latter country four provincial superior courts were established, and a peculiar institution called "commissions of reconciliations," intended to prevent litigation. In 1800 Denmark had the imprudence to conclude a treaty of armed neutrality with Russia and Sweden, with a view to resisting the right, which England demanded, of searching the ships of non-combatants for munitions of war. It was the aim of England to cut France off from all commercial intercourse with the rest of the world and, as munitions of war were regarded not only guns and powder, but grain and all kinds of provisions. The Norwegian and Danish merchant marines, which were then doing a great business as carriers, were injured by this arbitrary interpretation. The government was, however, not strong enough to bid defiance to England, and after the battle in Copenhagen harbor (April 2, 1801) Denmark was forced to retire from the "armed neutrality." The crown prince, Frederick, seemed, however, to have a poor idea of the power of England, for his policy soon again began to show symptoms of friendliness for the emperor of the French. According to a secret agreement between Napoleon and Alexander of Russia (1807) at the Peace of Tilsit, the former was to take possession of the Danish fleet, and by means of it dispute England's dominion over the sea. The English government soon got wind of this plan, and immediately demanded the temporary surrender of the Danish fleet, guaranteeing its return as soon as peace was reestablished. When this demand was refused, the English landed troops on Seeland and surrounded Copenhagen, while from the sea side they bombarded the city for three days and a half (1807). The Danes then had no choice but to surrender their fleet, but, owing to their resistance, it was never returned. This second battle of Copenhagen threw Denmark more completely into the arms of Napoleon, and when the emperor's star declined and set, his ally was left helpless at the mercy of his enemies.

Owing to the isolation of Denmark during the war and the difficulty of maintaining communication, Norway was temporarily governed by a commission, or council of regency, under the presidency of Prince Christian August of Augustenborg.

When Frederick VI. (1808-1814), at the death of his insane father, mounted the throne, the condition of his two countries was deplorable. His wrong-headed policy had placed him in a position which was wellnigh desperate. The war with England had put an embargo upon all commerce, and famine and misery were the result. Norway, which, without being consulted, had been dragged into this maze of difficulties, suffered from constant naval attacks, to which it was, by its long coast-line, particularly exposed. The finances were in hopeless disorder. To add to the confusion, a war broke out with Sweden, which, in time, had seen its advantage in seeking an English alliance. General Armfelt once more invaded the country, but Christian August did not lose his courage. The Council of Regency unfolded a heroic activity in carrying out his measures for the defence of the land, and divisions of Norwegian troops beat the Swedes in three successive fights (Toverud, Trangen, and Prestebakke). Simultaneously Sweden was attacked by Russia, which had guaranteed to enforce the stipulations of the Peace of Tilsit, one of which was the blockading of the Swedish ports against the English. But the obstinate king, Gustavus IV., would not give his consent to this measure, in consequence of which the Russians invaded Finland, and, after several hotly contested engagements, drove the Swedes out. The result of these disasters was the dethronement of the king and the election of his brother, Charles XIII., as his successor. As the latter was childless, he was induced to adopt the regent of Norway, Prince Christian August, as his heir, and there was thus a chance of the peaceful union of Norway and Sweden under an able and popular king. But, unhappily, this beloved prince died very soon after, at a review of troops in Skaane (1809). At the Peace of Frederickshamn, Sweden was obliged to cede Finland to Russia, but by the Treaty of Paris was guaranteed possession of Pomerania, on condition of its adhering to Napoleon's so-called "continental system." This naturally involved war with England, which was the one unconquered and irreconcilable enemy of the emperor; but as long as Sweden refrained from actively aiding Napoleon, England, which had its hands full elsewhere, assumed an expectant attitude and exercised no hostilities. But this semi-neutrality was far from satisfying Napoleon. Enraged by the indecision of Charles XIII., he again occupied Pomerania, thereby giving Sweden a pretext for openly siding with his enemies. Peace was concluded with England at Oerebro (1812), and soon after Sweden joined the great European alliance, which had for its object the overthrow of Napoleon.

This change of policy was, no doubt, to a large extent, due to Jean Baptiste Bernadotte, Prince of Pontecorvo, who had risen from the ranks in Napoleon's service, had become a field marshal, and after the death of Christian August, had been made crown prince of Sweden (1812). At a meeting with Alexander of Russia at Aabo, he was promised Norway, as a reward for his adherence to the cause of the allies; and the same promise was later repeated by England.

The condition of Norway, during this period, was aggravated by the continued blockading of her ports by the English. In 1812 a famine broke out, and the people were obliged to grind birch bark into flour and bake it into bread. The depreciation of the Danish paper money swept away the savings of thousands of families, and demoralized all commercial relations. Everywhere the greatest discontent prevailed at the union with Denmark, which had brought the country to such a strait. The tardy grant of a charter for a Norwegian University (1811) which had before been refused, caused a temporary enthusiasm, but did not allay the discontent. The political sense which seemed to have been dormant for centuries, began to awake again, and a feeling of independence and a desire for national self-assertion found expression in the Society for Norway's Welfare, (1810), in the liberal contributions to the University, and in a sudden patriotic ferment, which pervaded the land. The native official class came to the front as the leaders and exponents of these political aspirations, and rendered important service by formulating the people's desires and leading them toward rational aims. To be disposed of, like chattels, by foreign powers, which had no sympathy with Norway's traditions, nor interest in her welfare, was revolting to their self-respect, and amid all the insecurity, which the various moves upon the foreign diplomatic chess-board produced, a stubborn determination to resist to the utmost asserted itself among the thinking classes of the people.

As long, however, as Norway was a mere appendage of Denmark, it could not escape being involved in the consequences of King Frederick's policy. When, after Napoleon's disastrous campaign in Russia, the allies demanded the surrender of Norway to Sweden, the king refused and sent his cousin, Prince Christian Frederick, to govern the country as viceroy. But Napoleon's defeat at Leipsic and Bernadotte's invasion of Holstein, at the head of a large army, compelled him to come to terms. At the Peace of Kiel, (January 14, 1814) he ceded Norway to Sweden, and soon after released the Norsemen from their allegiance to him, giving up all claim upon their country for himself and his descendants.