The End of the Kalmar Union

The crown councils of Norway, Sweden and Denmark met in 1397 in the city of Kalmar and decided to unite the three Scandinavian nations under a single monarch. This 'Union of Kalmar', at the time the largest state in Europe, was troubled from the start by its loose organization and unbalancing Danish domination. Constant strife in the late 1470s between Sweden and Denmark led to the final dissolution of the Union in 1523, when the national council of Sweden chose the freedom fighter Gustav Eriksson Vasa as King Gustav I (1523-1560), long after Regent Sten Sture I of Sweden had defeated the Danes at the battle of the Brunkeberg in 1471.