EU4 | The Corona Classic Ep. 5 | A nebulous Community Europa Universalis IV Game

Dallas

Dallas

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Corona Classic - mini episode



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the kingdom of norway
kongeriket norge

"The strongest man in the world is he who stands most alone."
-henrik ibsen

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THE KALMAR DOMINION

THE CROWN OF NORWAY SITS IN COPENHAGEN

♱

The establishment of the Kalmar Union in 1397, the Kingdom of Norway surrendered its autonomy to the Danish crown. This settlement may have fit the impoverished Norwegian state well, crippled by debts and corruption, the offer of Danish administration was too tempting for the nobility to turn down.

But these men are dead now. And rebellion now grips the country.

The nobles, divided between Von Wittelsbach loyalists and those loyal to various Norwegian claimants to the vacant throne. Splintered into competing factions, and lacking coordination, the Danish court executed supreme authority through the Oslo Domstol - a high court of Danish judges and magistrates who acted on the King's behalf; suppressing separatist sentiment, prosecuting enemies of the Crown, and directing the Wittelsbach spy ring.

To further this control, the Cardinals appointed to Norway were closely monitored by the suspicious royalists - who feared the Papacy's influence in what they considered to be matters internal.

For decades, Norway had languished - defeated at Largs by the Scots in 1263, the Norwegians had never again been able to re-establish their foothold on the British mainland, and barely clinged to the peripheral (and unreliable) isles of Orkney and Shetland. To couple with territorial woes, Norway's responsibility to its Danish masters demanded the construction and fielding of a significant navy - to protect Danish trade, to supply Danish armies.

Into this context came Christopher III's decision to begin a costly war against the Baltic state of Livonia in 1453. The Domstol ordered the deployment of Norwegian naval forces to counter the Rigan Fleet. The people, angered by an unpopular war in the east, burdened by heavy Danish taxes, protested in the streets against the King's conquest - leading to the massacre at Bergen in January 1454 where Danish soldiers slaughtered fifty, fearing an uprising against the town garrison.

The massacre would spark an outrage and lead to the Bergen Incident; wherein Norwegian sailors stationed with the 1st Fleet disobeyed the command to sail for Livonia. In response, Danish forces and Norwegian loyalists sieged the dockyards and port. The Norwegian fleet escaped capture and took refuge in Lofoten, a peninsula far to the north where they evaded any further attempts to capture their ships. Upon peace two years later, amnesty was granted to the sailors of the 1st Fleet, but their leaders were imprisoned and executed shortly after their return to Bergen.

In 1455, the Grand Duchy of Muscovy supported Norwegian independence - the condition that the territory of Finland, controlled by a loyal Sweden, could be open for the Muscovites to seize. This deal quickly fell through, however, when the Polish kingdom annexed key eastern territory close to Muscovy, and drastically altered their position in the east - now focusing their efforts to counter an aggressive Polish nation and their Lithuanian vassal state.

In 1456, strict new taxes were passed by the Oslo Domstol, provoking outrage among the nobility and merchant classes. This dissent was silenced by an even stricter edict passed later that year - the Mandate of Torshavn, which outlawed all independent Norwegian companies and charters, effectively extending Danish control over Norway's trade and intertwining its tax bases, severely damaging Norway's own gold reserves. Instead of building the foundation of a unitary state, the Kalmar Union, the Danish hardliners in the court of Christopher III were alienating the Norwegian ruling class against them.

Then would come the death of Olav Nilsson in 1459, who was burned at the state for treason. His crime was objecting to the authority of the Oslo Domstol, and calling for the removal of the Danish magistrates from Oslo. In response to this escalation, and the public outcry over the death of Nilsson, Christopher III placed Lord Hakon Claeson as military governor of Norway, and made Lord Protector.

In 1461, enquires were made with the Kingdom of England, in secret, to see if support for Norwegian independence could be found in the court of Henry VII. Once again, support came with conditions. Orkney and Shetland. It was deeply damaging to the cause among many nobles, who considered the loss of these provinces to be unrecoverable and fatal to any future kingdom. Factions of Norwegian nobles squabbled fruitlessly over the following years, meeting in secret, away from the prying eyes of the Danish king's spies.

In 1466, a group of nobles, most of them from the arable interior around Oslo, took it upon themselves to travel to England and personally appeal to King Henry once again, and promise that the long-held claim of Norwegian right to the southernland (Sutherland) would be abandoned. This was not within their authority to promise, yet the English king was pleased by this - and promised to examine the issue of supporting the nobles within the coming months. But years went by, England inherited the crown of Brandenburg and became ensnared in petty European conflicts within the Holy Roman Empire.

The Statute of Halmstad was passed in 1472, which centralised the bureaucracy over Norway's feudal lords, confiscating huge areas of their land for the Danish crown and Danish cardinals. By this point, conflict had broken out in several provinces across the vassal kingdom; towns and villages killed their Danish tax collectors, bandits stalked the highways, local militias began to form in the name of local lords tired of Danish subjugation. The Norwegian Army of the Crown, a disloyal military now led by increasingly treasonous nobles, numbers only 4,000 men at arms and 1,000 riders. The Danish across the sea are many times greater, and although a protracted war of resistance may be won, help from foreign powers is the only way to ensure a lasting state may emerge from any conflict.

In 1578, the word came from England. King Henry VII was ready to commit his forces to assist the Norwegian struggle.

At long last, this land will be free.



end of part i​
 
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Mendel

Mendel

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After great consideration, we will begin gaming the REAL session tomorrow, Sunday May 30. I personally won't be able to get off of work until around 8:30 PM GMT, so we'll be set to start around 8:45 PM - try to gather a bit before. This is unless we can play Monday.

Tonight, we're playing a trial game with 1.31.3 (go into betas and pick "None") to stress test it. Join Discord now!
 
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