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'Christian V' (April 15, 1646 in Flensburg - August 25, 1699 in Copenhagen), was king of Denmark and Norway from 1670-1699. The son of Frederick III of Denmark and Sophie Amalie of Brunswick-Lüneburg. He married Charlotte Amalie of Hesse-Cassel on May 14, 1667 at Nykøbing, and ascended the throne on February 9, 1670.

Contents

Reign

Life and family

Ancestors

References

External links

Reign

It is generally argued that Christian V's personal courage and affability made him popular among the common people, but his image was marred by his unsuccessful attempt to regain Scania for Denmark in the Scanian War. The war exhausted Denmark's economic resources without creating any gains.^[1]
Part of his appeal to the common people may be explained by the fact that he allowed Danish commoners into state service, but his attempts to curtail the influence of the nobility also meant continuing his father's drive toward absolutism.^[2]1 To accommodate non-aristocrats into state service, he created the new noble ranks of count and baron. One of the commoners elevated in this way by the King was Peder Schumacher, named Count Griffenfeld by Christian V in 1670 and high councillor of Denmark in 1674.¹
Griffenfeldt, a skilled statesman, better understood the precarious situation Denmark placed itself in by attacking Sweden at a time when the country was allied with France, the major European power of the era. As Griffenfeldt had predicted, Sweden's stronger ally France was the party that dictated the peace with Denmark's ally Holland, and in spite of Danish victory at sea in the battles against Sweden in 1675–1679 during the Scanian War, Danish hopes for border changes on the Scandinavian Peninsula between the two countries were dashed. The results of the war efforts proved politically and financially unremunerative for Denmark. The damage to the Danish economy was extensive. At this point, Christian V no longer had his most experienced foreign relations counsel around to repair the political damage - in 1676 he had been persuaded to sacrifice Griffenfeldt as a traitor, and to the clamour of his adversaries, Griffenfeldt was imprisoned for the remainder of his life.⁵
Christian V introduced ''Danske Lov'' (Danish Code) 1683 which was the first law code for all of Denmark. ^[3] It was succeeded by the similar ''Norske Lov'' (Norwegian Code) 1687. He also introduced the land register of 1688, which attempted to work out the land value of the united monarchy in order to create a more just taxation. During his reign, science had a golden age due to the work of the astronomer Ole Rømer, in spite of the king’s personal lack of scientific knowledge and interest.

Life and family

Christian V had eight children by his wife and six by his mistress. He publicly introduced his sixteen-year-old mistress, Amelia Moth (1654-1719), into court, a move which insulted his wife. His mistress was the daughter of his former tutor (Paul Moth), and he made her countess of Samsø on December 31, 1677.
After the Scanian War, his sister, Princess Ulrike Eleonora of Denmark married the Swedish king Charles XI, whose mother was a stout supporter of the Duke of Holstein-Gottorp. In spite of the family ties, war between the brothers-in-law was close again in 1689, when Charles XI nearly provoked confrontation with Denmark by his support of the exiled Christian Albert, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp in his claims to Holstein-Gottorp in Schleswig-Holstein.⁴
Like Charles XI of Sweden, who had never been outside Sweden, spoke German and Swedish only and was therefore often considered unintelligent because he was unable to contribute when foreign diplomats visited,^[4] Christian V was also often considered poorly educated and dependent on his councillors by contemporary sources. The Danish monarch did nothing to dispel this notion. In his memoirs, he listed "hunting, love-making, war and maritime affairs" as his main interests in life.^[5]
He died from the after-effects of a hunting accident and was interred in Roskilde Cathedral.⁵

Ancestors

' Christian's ancestors in three generations'

'Christian V of Denmark'	'Father:' Frederick III of Denmark	'Paternal Grandfather:' Christian IV of Denmark	'Paternal Great-grandfather:' Frederick II of Denmark
			'Paternal Great-grandmother:' Sofie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin
		'Paternal Grandmother:' Anne Catherine of Brandenburg	'Paternal Great-grandfather:' Joachim Frederick, Elector of Brandenburg
			'Paternal Great-grandmother:' Catherine, Princess of Brandenburg-Küstrin
	'Mother:' Sophie Amalie of Brunswick-Lüneburg	'Maternal Grandfather:' George, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg	'Maternal Great-grandfather:' William, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg
			'Maternal Great-grandmother:' Dorothea of Denmark
		'Maternal Grandmother:' Anne Eleonore of Hesse-Darmstadt	'Maternal Great-grandfather:' Louis V, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt
			'Maternal Great-grandmother:' Magdalena of Brandenburg

References

1. "Christian V." (2007). In ''Encyclopædia Britannica''. Retrieved January 9, 2007, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
2. Jespersen, Knud J.V. The Introduction of Absolutism. Gyldendal Leksikon, quoted by The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark, on Denmark's official web site.
3. Jespersen, Knud J.V. Denmark as a Modern Bureaucracy. Gyldendal Leksikon, quoted by The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark, on Denmark's official web site.
4. Upton, Anthony F. (1998). ''Charles XI and Swedish Absolutism, 1660-1697''. Cambridge University Press, 1998. ISBN 0521573904.
5. Nielsen, Kay Søren (1999). ''Christian V - Konge og sportsmand''. The Royal Danish Arsenal Museum, Net Publications, 1999.

External links

★ The Royal Orders of Chivalry (Order of Dannebrog, instituted by Christian V in 1671) - Official site of the Danish Monarchy

★ Find-A-Grave entry for Christian V