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A Milestone in European History: The Danish-Russian Treaty of 1562

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2017

Walther Kirchner
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Extract

For Several Centuries Denmark shared with the Hanseatic league predominance in the Baltic area, but the first three decades of the sixteenth century witnessed radical changes. The Hansa was affected adversely when new routes were discovered to important overseas markets, when European states underwent fundamental reorganizations in structure, and when for some reason the herring changed their course. Denmark found herself weakened by the political revolution following the reformation, the expansion of Spanish, Dutch, and English seapower, and the dissolution of the Kalmar Union due to the Swedish independence movement. As a result, the old balance of power in the Baltic area was destroyed. Had Sweden, Poland, Prussia, the Holy Roman Empire, or any combination of these taken over the place which Denmark had held for so long, no significant new development would have resulted. The fact that Denmark's decline coincided with and partly caused the rise of Russian power in northern Europe marks the importance of the period.

Type
Research Article
Information
Slavonic and East European Review American Series , Volume 3 , Issue 2 , August 1944 , pp. 39 - 48
Copyright
Copyright © Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies 1944

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References

1 Winckler, Arthur, Die Deutsche Hansa in Russland (Berlin, 1886), p. 35 fGoogle Scholar.

2 Friedrich Konrad Gadebusch, Livländische Jahrbücher (4 vols.; Riga, 1780–83), I, pt. 2, 388. Cf. Kölner Inventor, ed. by Konstantin Höhlbaum (2 vols., Leipzig, 1896–1903), I, 343. Cf. Winckler, p. 85.

3 Bartholomaeus Grefenthal's “Livländische Chronik,” Monumenta Livoniae Antiquae, ed. by G. F. v. Bunge et al. (5 vols.; Riga-Leipzig, 1835–1847), V, 115. Cf. F. B. von Buchholtz, Geschichte der Regierung Ferdinand des Ersten (8 vols.; Vienna, 1831–1838), VII, 469, note. Also MS., Rigsarkivet Stockholm, Livonia före 1600, bl. 063 (the paging indicates the number, under which the manuscript is to be found among the photostat copies in the private collection of Professor Waldemar Westergaard at Los Angeles. The documents contained therein have been used for the present study).

4 Most historians of the period dwell in extenso on this Russian claim of the “ancient inheritance.” Cf. Briefe und Urkunden zur Geschichte Livlands in den Jahren 1558–1562, ed. by Friedrich Bienemann (5 vols.; Riga, 1865–1876), I, 221 ff., passim. Also Ivan to Riga, MS., Riga, Äusseres Ratsarchiv.

5 Hakluyt, Richard, The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques & Discoveries … (12 vols.; James MacLehose & Sons, Glasgow; New York, 1903), II, 352 Google Scholar.

6 For a full discussion of the Swedish-Russian relationship, see Waldemar Westergaard, “Gustavus Vasa and Russia,” Pacific Historical Review, II (June, 1933), 158–169.

7 MSS., Copenhagen, Rigsarkiv, Tyske Kancelliets Udenrigske Afdeling, Rusland B, vol. 47, 1558–1642, Gesandskabs-Relationer fra forskaellige Afsendinger, 93, 30 and 95, 22.

8 “In quo nihil est hominis, praeter corporis figuram.” Krasiński's speech, Akta Poselske i Korrespondcncye Franciska Krasińiskiego, 1558–1576, ed. by W. H. Krasiński et al. (Cracow, 1872), 283. Cf. the descriptions in the contemporary chronicles of Balthasar Russow, Salomon Henning, and Dionysius Fabricius in Scriptores Rerum Livonicarum, Sammlung der wichligsten Chroniken und Geschichtsdenkmale von Liv-, Ehst- und Kurland … (2 vols.; Riga-Leipzig, 1848–1853).

9 Neue Quellen zur Geschichte des Untergangs livländischer Selbständigkeit. Aus dem geheimen Archive zu Kopenhagen, ed. by Schirren, Carl (3 vols.; Reval, 1883–1885), I, 161 Google Scholar.

10 MS., Copenhagen, Rigsarkiv, T.K.U.A., 93, 30 f.

11 MS., Copenhagen, Rigsarkiv, T.K.U.A., 93, 28–34.

12 Danmark-Norges Traktater, 1523–1750, ed. by Laursen, L. (7 vols.; Copenhagen, 1907–1926), II, 21–22 Google Scholar. Cited hereafter as D.N.Tr.

13 D.N.Tr., II, 22. Cf. K. H. von Busse, Hertog Magnus, König von Livland (Leipzig. 1871), 38 fif. Also Mollerup, W., Danmarks Forlhold til Lifland (Copenhagen, 1880), 124.Google Scholar

14 D.N.Tr., II, 22.

15 D.N.Tr., II, 23.

16 D.N.Tr., II, 24 ff. The Russian version has been used.

17 It was, however, said in Article VIII that Denmark received these lands out of Ivan's inheritance.

18 Ščerbačev, J., “Dva Posolstva pri Ioanne IV Vasileviče,” Russki Vestnik, CXC (1887), 98 ffGoogle Scholar.

19 Ibid., p. 105 ff.

20 Ščerbačev, pp. 105–118.

21 MSS., Copenhagen, Rigsarkiv, T.K.U.A., 94, 10 ff.

22 MSS., Copenhagen, Rigsarkiv, T.K.U.A., 94, 23.

23 MSS., Copenhagen, Rigsarkiv, T.K.U.A., 94, 22, 25, passim, 95, 4. Fontén published two of Vheling's letters. Akty i pisma k islorii baltiskago voprosa v XVI i XVII sloletjach, ed. by G. V. Forstén (2 vols.; St. Petersburg, 1889–1893).

24 MSS. Copenhagen, Rigsarkiv, T.K.U.A., 95, 20–37 and 96,5–12. Eysenberg's instructions published by Forstén, No. 60. Cf. D.N.Tr., II, 389.

25 “Jacobo Ulfeldi Legatio Moscovitica,” Historiae Ruthenicae Scriptores Exteri, Saeculi XVI, ed. by A. de Starczewski (2 vols.; Berlin-St. Petersburg, 1841).

26 The treaty is printed in D.N.Tr., II, 403, 410. An account of the negotiations is given by Ščerbačev, p. 125 ft.