Denmark-Norway

This article is part of the
Scandinavia series

The Kingdom of Denmark-Norway, consisting of Denmark and Norway, including Norway's possessions Iceland, Greenland and the Faroe Islands, is a term used for the two united kingdoms after their amalgamation as one state in 1536. The term Kingdom of Denmark is often used to include Norway in the period 1536-1814. The term covers the "royal part" of the Oldenburgs' as it was in 1460, excluding the "ducal part" of Schleswig and Holstein.

In the aftermath of Sweden's definite secession from the Kalmar Union in 1521, civil war and Protestant Reformation followed in Denmark and Norway. When things had settled down, the Privy Council of Denmark was weakened, and that of Norway was abolished. Norway kept its separate laws and some institutions, such as a royal chancellor, and separate coinage and army. Being a hereditary kingdom, Norway's status as separate from Denmark was important to the royal dynasty in its struggle to win elections as kings of Denmark.

After the Napoleonic Wars Denmark-Norway was defeated and had to cede Norway proper to the king of Sweden, formally effected at the Treaty of Kiel. Norway's overseas possessions were kept by Denmark.

Although unofficial, the term Denmark-Norway has didactic merits and reflects the historical and legal roots of that union. The term Sweden-Finland is sometimes, although with less justification, applied to the contemporary Swedish realm 1521-1809. Finland never was a separate kingdom, and was completely integrated with Sweden.

The pagan Scandinavians were christianized in the 11th-14th century, resulting in consolidated kingdoms with the same borders as the arch-bichoprics:

Denmark forged from the Lands of Denmark
Sweden forged from the Lands of Sweden
Norway with Iceland, Greenland, Faroe Islands, Shetland and the Orkneys.

The three kingdoms then united in the Kalmar Union lasting all of the 15th century.

The Kalmar Union was split in two halves:

"Denmark-Norway" and
"Sweden".

Three centuries later, Scandinavia was reorganized into three personal unions:

Denmark with Schleswig-Holstein (split in 1864)
Sweden and Norway (split in 1905)
Russia with the Grand Duchy of Finland (split in 1917)