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Documents for "Scandinavian History: Biographies":
  • Ásgeirsson, Ásgeir 1894-1972, Icelandic statesman, president of Iceland (1952-68). He was a member of the Icelandic parliament from 1923 to 1952, headed the government bureau of education (1926-31, 1934-38), and...
  • Banér, Johan 1596-1641, Swedish field marshal in the Thirty Years War. He served (1626-29) in Poland and Russia and accompanied (1630) Gustavus II of Sweden to Germany. At Gustavus's death (1632) and the major Swedish defeat at Nördlingen, he became the chief Swedish...
  • Baunsgård, Hilmar 1920-90. Danish politician. A businessman, he was president of the youth organization of the Social-Liberal party (1948-50) and a member of the executive of the Social-Liberal party (1948-57),...
  • Benediktsson, Bjarni 1908-70, Icelandic statesman. A lawyer, he was a vocal advocate of Iceland's independence from Denmark, and became a member of the central committee of the Independence party in 1936. Elected...
  • Bernadotte, Count Folke 1895-1948, Swedish internationalist; nephew of King Gustavus V. He was active in the Swedish Red Cross and became its president in 1946. Early in 1945 he arranged the evacuation of Danish and...
  • Bernstorff, Andreas Peter 1735-97, Danish politician; nephew of Johann Hartwig Ernst Bernstorff. Made (1773) foreign minister after Struensee's fall from power, he obtained from Russia the final ratification of the exchange treaty negotiated by his uncle in 1767. Removed from office in 1780...
  • Bernstorff, Johann Heinrich, Graf von 1862-1939, German diplomat. As ambassador to the United States (1908-17), he tried to conciliate American feelings toward Germany and repeatedly warned his government that unrestricted submarine...
  • Björnsson, Sveinn 1881-1952, Icelandic diplomat and political leader, first president of Iceland (1944-52). A distinguished lawyer, he was elected to the Althing (Icelandic parliament) for the first time in 1914...
  • Borten, Per 1913-2005, Norwegian political leader and agronomist. Active in the agricultural administration and provincial government of Sør-Trøndelag (1946-65), he served as head of the region's Agrarian...
  • Branting, Hjalmar 1860-1925, Swedish premier. A leader of the Social Democratic party, he was finance minister in 1917. As premier (1920, 1921-23, 1924-25) he was responsible for social reforms and for welfare...
  • Brundtland, Gro Harlem 1939-, Norwegian political leader. She worked as a physician in the national health service until appointed (1974) minister of the environment. She became deputy leader of the Norwegian Labor...
  • Canute the Saint d. 1086, king (1080-86) and patron saint of Denmark. He built churches and cathedrals and raised the bishops to the rank of prince. In 1085 he made an unsuccessful attempt to invade England. He was...
  • Charles IX 1550-1611, king of Sweden (1604-11), youngest son of Gustavus I. He was duke of Södermanland, Närke, and Värmland before his accession. During the reign of his brother, John III (1568-92), he...
  • Charles X 1622-60, king of Sweden (1654-60), nephew of Gustavus II. The son of John Casimir, count palatine of Zweibrücken, he brought the house of Wittelsbach to the Swedish throne when his cousin, Queen Christina , abdicated in his favor. Before his accession, Charles had gained both military and diplomatic experience, fighting under Torstensson in the Thirty Years War and serving under Chancellor Oxenstierna. As king, Charles remedied Christina's loss of crown lands by securing their restitution at the Riksdag of 1655. He reopened hostilities with Poland and took Warsaw and Kraków in 1655, but Polish...
  • Charles XI 1655-97, king of Sweden (1660-97), son and successor of Charles X. Charles ascended the throne at the age of five, so a council of regency ruled until 1672. The regency ended Swedish wars with...
  • Charles XII 1682-1718, king of Sweden (1697-1718), son and successor of Charles XI. The regency under which he succeeded was abolished in 1697 at the request of the Riksdag. At the coronation he omitted the...
  • Charles XIII 1748-1818, king of Sweden (1809-18) and Norway (1814-18). He became regent for his nephew, Gustavus IV , after the assassination (1792) of his brother Gustavus III. He introduced some liberal policies, but these were abandoned at the end of his regency (1796). Called to the throne at the forced...
  • Charles XIV (Charles John; Jean Baptiste Jules Bernadotte) , 1763-1844, king of Sweden and Norway (1818-44), French Revolutionary general. Bernadotte rose from the ranks, served brilliantly under Napoleon Bonaparte in the Italian campaign (1796-97), was...
  • Charles XV 1826-72, king of Sweden and Norway (1859-72), son and successor of Oscar I. A liberal and popular ruler, he consented to many reforms, including the creation of a bicameral parliament. He was...
  • Charles XVI Gustavus (Carl Gustaf), 1946-, king of Sweden (1973-), grandson and successor of Gustavus VI; son of Prince Gustaf Adolf of Sweden and Princess Sibylla of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. Brought up by his grandfather...
  • Christian I 1426-81, king of Denmark (1448-81), Norway (1450-81), and Sweden (1457-64), count of Oldenburg, and founder of the Oldenburg dynasty of Danish kings. In 1460 he also succeeded to Schleswig and Holstein...
  • Christian II 1481-1559, king of Denmark and Norway (1513-23) and Sweden (1520-23), son and successor of King John. After several unsuccessful attempts, he asserted claim to Sweden by force. However, his...
  • Christian III 1503-59, king of Denmark and Norway (1534-59). At the death of his father, Frederick I, his election was delayed because he was a Lutheran. The German city of Lübeck invaded Denmark to reinstate the deposed Christian II , and the minor nobility then forced the election of Christian III in 1534 to preserve Danish autonomy. Christian III allied with Gustavus I of Sweden to defeat Lübeck in 1536. That victory broke the power of the Hanseatic League and made the Danish fleet supreme in northern waters. Christian established (1536) Lutheranism in Denmark...
  • Christian IV 1577-1648, king of Denmark and Norway (1588-1648), son and successor of Frederick II. After assuming (1596) personal rule from a regency, he concentrated on building the navy, industry, and...
  • Christian IX 1818-1906, king of Denmark (1863-1906). A member of the cadet line of Sonderburg-Glücksburg, he succeeded Frederick VII, last of the direct line of Oldenburg. The London Conference of 1852 had...
  • Christian V 1646-99, king of Denmark and Norway (1670-99), son and successor of Frederick III. His minister, Griffenfeld , who until his fall in 1676 dominated Christian's reign, made the monarchy absolute. Christian...
  • Christian VII 1749-1808, king of Denmark and Norway (1766-1808), son and successor of Frederick V. Shortly after his accession his mental illness made him dependent on his physician, Struensee , who in 1770 caused the dismissal of minister of foreign affairs Johann Hartwig Ernst Bernstorff and in 1771 became an all-powerful minister. After Struensee's downfall (1772), Christian's marriage with Caroline Matilda, sister of George III of England, was annulled. Andreas Peter Bernstorff became chief minister in 1773, and after 1784 Christian's son and successor, Frederick VI, acted as regent. Widespread liberal reforms were enacted under the direction of Bernstorff and Prince...
  • Christian VIII 1786-1848, king of Denmark (1839-48), nephew of Christian VII; successor of Frederick VI. As governor and king (May-Oct., 1814) of Norway he accepted a liberal Norwegian constitution that is still...
  • Christian X 1870-1947, king of Denmark (1912-47) and Iceland (1912-44), son and successor of Frederick VIII and brother of King Haakon VII of Norway. He granted (1915) a new constitution that included the...
  • Christina 1626-89, queen of Sweden (1632-54), daughter and successor of Gustavus II. From her father's death (1632) until 1644 she was under a regency headed by Chancellor Axel Oxenstierna. Her early devotion to state affairs soon gave place to other interests, especially a zeal for learning. She attracted many foreign artists and scholars—including Descartes—to her court. Music and...
  • Dahlberg, Erik Jönsson, Count 1625-1703, Swedish military engineer, field marshal, and architect. In 1658 he conveyed the army of Charles X of Sweden across the frozen Little and Great Belt straits in a daring march on Copenhagen. As governor of Livonia, he held Riga through two sieges. His volume of architectural engravings is a...
  • Eldjárn, Kristján 1916-82, Icelandic statesman and archaeologist. Educated at the universities of Copenhagen and Iceland, he was an assistant at the National Museum of Iceland (1945-47) and then its curator...
  • Eric IX (Eric the Saint), d. 1160, king of Sweden. He led (1157?) a Christian crusade to Finland, where he left the bishop of Uppsala in charge of missionary work. While attending mass he was killed by a...
  • Eric XIV 1533-77, king of Sweden (1560-68), son and successor of Gustavus I. To strengthen the power of the crown, he limited (1561) the privileges of the royal dukes. He forbade the marriage of his half...
  • Erlander, Tage Fritiof 1901-85, Swedish socialist leader, prime minister of Sweden (1946-69). On the editorial staff of the encyclopedia Svensk Upplagsbok from 1929 to 1938, he was first elected to the Riksdag in 1933. He held several ministerial positions before 1946 and became a leading expert on education and social welfare. A Social Democrat,...
  • Fersen, Count Fredrik Axel 1719-94, Swedish politician and soldier. He served (1743-48) in the French army and retired as brigadier general. As lieutenant general in the Swedish army (1750-57), he distinguished himself in...
  • Fersen, Count Hans Axel 1755-1810, Swedish soldier and diplomat; son of Count Fredrik Axel Fersen. He entered (1779) the French service, was aide-de-camp of comte de Rochambeau in the American Revolution, and later at the...
  • Finnbogadóttir, Vigdís 1930-, Icelandic teacher and politician, president of Iceland (1980-96). She first became a public figure as the director of the Reykjavik theatre company (1972-80), and as the presenter of a...
  • Frederick III 1609-70, king of Denmark and Norway (1648-70), son and successor of Christian IV. He at first made great concessions to the powerful nobles but later asserted his own power. In 1657 war with Sweden...
  • Frederick IV 1671-1730, king of Denmark and Norway (1699-1730), son and successor of Christian V. He allied himself (1699) with Augustus II of Poland and Saxony and with Peter I of Russia against Charles XII of Sweden in the Northern War , but was forced to sign the humiliating Treaty of Travendal in 1700. Still hoping to recover S Sweden (lost in 1660) and to assure Danish rule in Schleswig, he again entered the war in 1709. In the...
  • Frederick IX 1899-1972, king of Denmark (1947-72), son and successor of Christian X. He married (1935) Princess Ingrid of Sweden. Because he did not have a son the constitution was amended in 1953 to allow for...
  • Frederick V 1723-66, king of Denmark and Norway (1746-66), son and successor of Christian VI. Frederick's reign was one of commercial expansion and prosperity. Loans, subsidies, and treaties aided industry,...
  • Frederick VI 1768-1839, king of Denmark (1808-39) and Norway (1808-14), son and successor of Christian VII. After the court party had executed Struensee, expelled Frederick's mother, Caroline Matilda, and imposed their will on the demented Christian (1772), Frederick grew up under the guardianship of...
  • Frederick VII 1808-63, king of Denmark, duke of Schleswig, Holstein, and Lauenburg (1848-63), son and successor of Christian VIII. He accepted a liberal constitution in 1849 that ended the absolute monarchy. The vexed Schleswig-Holstein question continued during his reign. Frederick's attempt (1848) to tie Schleswig more closely to Denmark than to Holstein was tentatively settled by the Berlin Treaty (1850) and the London Protocol...
  • Frederick VIII 1843-1912, king of Denmark (1906-12), son and successor of Christian IX. He fought in the war with Prussia in 1864 and always retained an interest in military affairs. He was succeeded by his son...
  • Görtz, Georg Heinrich von 1668-1719, Swedish diplomat and financial expert, a German. While in the service of Frederick V, duke of Holstein-Gottorp, he helped create the duke's alliance with Sweden, which threatened Danish...
  • Griffenfeld, Peder Schumacher, Count 1635-99, Danish politician. The son of a merchant, he became (1665) secretary to Frederick III. In 1665 Griffenfeld drew up the Kongelov [king's law], which established an absolute monarchy in Denmark. He delivered (1670) the document, which had been kept secret until Frederick's death, to Christian V. From 1671 to 1676, Griffenfeld dominated the government. In 1673 he was created count. He encouraged trade and industry and centralized the administration. His bourgeois origins and his support of...
  • Gustavus I 1496-1560, king of Sweden (1523-60), founder of the modern Swedish state and the Vasa dynasty. Known as Gustavus Eriksson before his coronation, he was the son of Erik Johansson, a Swedish senator and follower of the Sture family. Gustavus was treacherously imprisoned by Christian II , the Danish king who was attempting to assert his control over Sweden under the Kalmar Union. In 1520 his father was one of the nationalist leaders killed in the massacre Christian ordered at Stockholm after he had defeated Sweden. Having escaped from prison, Gustavus led the peasants of...
  • Gustavus II (Gustavus Adolphus), 1594-1632, king of Sweden (1611-32), son and successor of Charles IX.
  • Gustavus III 1746-92, king of Sweden (1771-92), son and successor of Adolphus Frederick. When Gustavus ascended the throne, he found his kingdom torn by civil strife. To the conflicting interests of peasants,...
  • Gustavus IV 1778-1837, king of Sweden (1792-1809). On the assassination of his father, Gustavus III, he succeeded under the regency of his uncle, later King Charles XIII , a liberal. Attaining his majority in 1796, Gustavus dismissed his uncle's ministers and embarked on a reactionary policy at home. His adoption of inclosure advanced the agricultural economy. The king directed his foreign policy against the French Revolution, and in 1805 he joined the Third Coalition against Napoleon I. Swedish Pomerania was occupied...
  • Gustavus V 1858-1950, king of Sweden (1907-50), son and successor of Oscar II. During his reign Sweden evolved toward political equality and economic prosperity and avoided military involvement in two world...
  • Gustavus VI (Gustaf Adolf), 1882-1973, king of Sweden (1950-73), son and successor of Gustavus V. After the death (1920) of his first wife, Princess Margaret of Connaught, he married (1923) Lady Louise...
  • Haakon I (Haakon the Good), c.915-961, king of Norway (c.935-961), son of Harold I. He was brought up as a Christian at the court of King Athelstan in England. His brother, Eric Bloodyaxe, had succeeded...
  • Haakon IV (Haakon Haakonsson), 1204-63, king of Norway (1217-63), illegitimate son of Haakon III and grandson of Sverre. Secretly reared by the Birkebeiner faction (see Sverre ), he was chosen king (1217) on the death of Haakon III's successor, King Inge. Haakon Haakonsson overcame the rival claims of Earle Skule (Inge's brother), and in 1223 a great council at Bergen...
  • Haakon VII 1872-1957, king of Norway (1905-57). Formerly Prince Charles, second son of King Frederick VIII of Denmark, he was elected by the Storting to the throne on the separation of Norway from Sweden in...
  • Harold Bluetooth d. c.985, king of Denmark. Succeeding (935) his father, Gorm the Old, who had united Denmark, Harold consolidated the kingdom. He tried to assert suzerainty over Norway but was defeated by the...
  • Harold I or Harold Fairhair, Norse Harald Haarfager, c.850-c.933, first king of Norway, son of Halfdan the Black, king of Vestfold (SE Norway). After succeeding his father, Harold initiated a series of battles against the other petty kings, climaxed...
  • Harold III or Harold Hardrada , Norse Harald Harðráði [Harold stern council], d. 1066, king of Norway (1046-66), half brother of Olaf II. After Olaf's defeat (1030), Harold went to serve Zoë, the Byzantine empress, in campaigns against the Seljuk...
  • Harold V or Harald V, 1937-, king of Norway (1991-); son of Olaf V. He lived in exile in Washington, D.C., during World War II and was educated at Oslo Katedralskole before taking up a military career. His marriage to a commoner, Sonja Haraldsen, caused...
  • Hasting fl. last half of 9th cent., leader of the Vikings , called Hasting the Pirate. He ravaged the coasts of France, Spain, and Italy, went into Morocco, plundered in the south of France, and took a fleet...
  • Jarring, Gunnar 1907-, Swedish diplomat. He entered diplomatic service during World War II and was minister to India (1948-51), Ceylon (now Sri Lanka; 1950-51), and Iran, Iraq, and Pakistan (1951-52). In 1956, he...
  • Kallio, Kyösti 1873-1940, Finnish political leader. Of peasant background, he entered politics and was a vocal advocate of Finnish independence from Russia. Minister of agriculture in the newly independent...
  • Kekkonen, Urho Kaleva 1900-1986, president of Finland (1956-81). The leading spokesman of the Center party (known as the Agrarian party until 1965), he held various cabinet posts from 1936 and was prime minister from...
  • Koivisto, Mauno Henrik 1923-, Finnish politician. He was director of the Helsinki Workers' Savings Bank (1959-68) and then governor of the Bank of Finland (1968-82). As a Social Democrat he served as minister of finance...
  • Krag, Jens Otto 1914-78, Danish political leader. A Social Democrat, he entered parliament in 1947 and played a leading role in shaping Denmark's postwar economic policies. He served as minister of commerce,...
  • Kreuger, Ivar 1880-1932, Swedish financier. After studying engineering in Stockholm and engaging in construction enterprises in the United States, he returned to Sweden and organized the firm of Kreuger and...
  • Magnus I (Magnus the Good), 1024-47, king of Norway (1035-47) and Denmark (1042-47), son of Olaf II. He was recalled from exile in 1035 by the former opponents of Olaf when they rebelled against Sweyn, son of Canute. In 1038 he made a treaty with another son of Canute, Harthacanute of Denmark, by which either king, if he died without an heir, was to be succeeded by the other. Magnus at first dealt harshly with...
  • Magnus VI (Magnus the Law Mender), 1238-80, king of Norway (1263-80), son of Haakon IV. A man of peace, he brought an end to the Scottish war by ceding (1266) the Hebrides and the Isle of Man to Alexander...
  • Magnus VII (Magnus Ericsson), b.1316, d.1373 or 1374, king of Norway (1319-43) and Sweden (1319-63). He succeeded his grandfather, Haakon V, in Norway; at the same time he was elected king by the Swedish...
  • Malmberg, Aino 1866-1933, Finnish patriot and feminist, grad. Univ. of Helsinki, 1887, in the first class to include women students. She was active in the nationalist movement that sought independence from...
  • Mannerheim, Baron Carl Gustav Emil 1867-1951, Finnish field marshal and president of Finland (1944-46). Of a distinguished Swedish-Finnish family in Russian-controlled Finland, Mannerheim rose to the rank of general in the czarist...