Kalmar Union


Kalmar Union,

combination of the three crowns of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, effected at Kalmar, Sweden, by Queen Margaret IMargaret I,
1353–1412, queen of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, daughter of Waldemar IV of Denmark. She was married (1363) to King Haakon VI of Norway, son of Magnus VII of Norway and Sweden.
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 in 1397. Because the kingship was elective in all three countries, the union could not be maintained by inheritance. Nationalist forces used the election procedure to modify terms of the union. Margaret's successors controlled Sweden only for brief periods; the accession (1523) of Gustavus IGustavus 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.
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 as king of Sweden dissolved the union. The union of Denmark and Norway lasted, however, until 1814.