Denmark: a renaissance power

The turn of the 17th century was a time of change for the arts in Europe. The period commonly referred to as the Baroque period (1600-1750) was starting and a sense of grandeur and awe would become prevalent in architecture, painting and music. The nobility became increasingly extravagant, seizing every moment to show off their splendour, and Europe entered into a race of ostentatiousness. An aura of lavishness swept over the courts of Europe, or at least that is how the nobles would have it seem. When discussing the arts, we often look at the historically rich and powerful countries, such as France, Italy and Germany but overlook countries that would later become more insignificant in European politics. One such country is Denmark, one of the most powerful countries in Europe in the late 16th century, but would fade into international insignificance by the end of the 17th century.

By the year 1600, Denmark was a much bigger country than it is today. The Oldenburg dynasty, ruling Denmark from 1448 to 1863, governed a total territory of what we know today as the whole of Denmark, Norway (accounting also for the provinces of Härjedalen, Jämtland, and Båhuslen that were later lost to Sweden), the southern Swedish provinces of Skåne, Blekinge, and Halland, Iceland, the Faroe Islands and finally the duchies of Slesvig (Schleswig) and Holstein in Germany. Although the total territorial mass controlled by the dynasty was vast, most of their wealth and power came from the sea. Despite being large, Norway and Iceland barely provided enough for their own inhabitants, being predominantly quite barren and difficult to grow grains on. Denmark proper, the duchies and the Swedish provinces provided decent farming land but still were not as fertile as more southern countries such as Germany, France or even England. Denmark’s greatest source of power was its absolute control over the Øresund. Known as the Sound in English, it is the narrow strait lying between the Danish island of Sjælland and Sweden. The Sound was one of the three passages connecting the Baltic sea with the Atlantic, the other two being the Little Belt and the Great Belt lying on opposite sides of the island Fyn, also controlled by Denmark. However, the Sound was much safer for larger ships and most of international trade was funnelled through there1. At its narrowest, the Sound is only about four kilometres wide. This meant that Denmark could control all maritime traffic going between the Baltic and Atlantic, collecting commercial fees from merchants sailing through the Sound and even having the ability to blockade it, thus closing off one of Europe's most important trade routes.

Denmark’s control over the Baltic trade positioned it in a place of significance within the North European political sphere. It allowed them to harbour close relationships with countries such as England and the Netherlands, who did a lot of trading in the Baltic. However, it also put them in a position of envy with countries that also sought control over the Baltic sea, such as Sweden and the Hanseatic cities of north Germany. Another factor to Denmark’s political significance was its reputation as the leader of Protestant northern Europe 2. The Oldenburg dynasty was a great proponent of the protestant faith and they enforced it throughout their realm. Protestantism brought them even closer to England and the Netherlands, however, since the Oldenburg kings were also the princes of Holstein and Schleswig, this meant that they were not only the leaders of one of the most powerful protestant countries, but also that they were among the most prominent of protestant princes in the German Empire. This reputation brought them great prestige and respect, but would ultimately lead to their fall from prominence by drawing them into the 30 years' war. All things considered, it is at least safe to say that Denmark was a key figure in European politics.

From 1596-1648, Denmark was ruled by king Christian IV (1577-1648), the longest reigning monarch of Denmark up until 2023 when queen Margrethe II overtook his record. Christian succeeded to the throne in 1588 when his father died, but as he was only 11 years of age, Denmark was ruled by a regency council until 1596 when he was finally crowned. In the following year, he married Anna Catherine of Brandenburg and she was crowned queen. Christian IV might be Denmark’s most famous king and he certainly left his mark on Scandinavia. You would be hard-pressed not to find any traces of Christian’s reign if you were to visit Copenhagen. He was a great builder and commissioned numerous famous buildings such as Rosenborg castle, the Old Stock Exchange (Børsen), the Round Tower (Rundetårn) and the Arsenal (Tøjhuset). Christian himself was also an architect and designed the magnificent Frederiksborg castle, his chief royal residence from the time of its near completion in 1616. Not only did he commission buildings, but he also had towns built throughout his realm e.g. Kristiania (modern day Oslo) and Kristiansand in Norway, Kristianstad and Kristianopel in modern day Sweden, Glückstadt in Holstein (Germany) and Christianshavn in Denmark. Although Christian was a popular king and led Denmark through great economic, cultural and diplomatic growth, his legacy is somewhat stained by his military failures. For at least the first half of his reign, he could, by all accounts, be considered a good king. He was successful in stimulating the Danish commercial wealth by putting in place new economic focused policies and reforms 3, and he even invested a great deal of his own wealth into various projects with the intent of boosting the Danish economy and trade such as investing in state-run manufactories4, a Danish colony in Tranquebar, India, and sponsoring expeditions to Greenland and North America. Not all of his projects and policies were a success, but it is certain that he put a lot of energy and ambition into the betterment of his kingdom. Perhaps it was this same ambition that led him, against the counsel of the Rigsråd, a government body that shared power with the king, to conduct a series of unsuccessful wars, namely the inconclusive Kalmar War (1611-1613), Denmark’s involvement in the Thirty Years’ War (1625-1629) and the disastrous Torstensson War (1643-1645) that would ultimately lead to Denmark’s decline as the principal Baltic power.

Christian IV made great efforts in promoting power and sophistication in his state5. Throughout his reign, he tried to keep Denmark as a leading nation, economically, culturally and martially, of the protestant world. By 1611, Christian was among, if not the, wealthiest sovereigns in Europe. His wealth came from a combination of Sound dues, commercial dues and tolls paid to sail through the Sound, good investments and the personal fortune of his mother, Sofie of Mecklenburg, one of the richest women of Europe 6. He was an extremely wealthy man and could, as mentioned before, afford to subsidise expensive projects such as colonisation, infrastructure and even war from his own pocket. He was also interested in keeping Denmark culturally relevant and spent a great deal of his wealth on promoting the arts.

In 1588, the year of  Frederik II death, the court’s total expenditure on musicians (the combined salary of courtly singers, instrumentalists and trumpeters) was 3178 Danish dollars but by 1600, when Christian IV had really established himself as a ruler, this number had tripled and the court spent 10500 dollars on musicians 7. It is important to note that the trumpeters were not considered to be part of the instrumentalist group and I will continue to refer to them as separate groups. Generally, the expenditure on musicians increased steadily throughout Christian’s reign, with some ups and downs, the lows mostly coinciding with times of war, but the most notable difference from the time of his succession is the increase in salary for instrumentalists, going from 665 dollars in 1588-89 to a height of 7124 dollars in 1634-35. This can be somewhat explained by Christian inheriting a relatively modest music chapel of 23 singers, 9 instrumentalists and 15 trumpeters 8 and gradually increasing the size to a maximum of 76 musicians in 1618 9. The massive increase in salary for instrumentalists is explained at least partly by the change of popular musical styles, going from the age of polyphony when singers were favoured, and into the early baroque where the balance lay more in the hands of the instrumentalists. Christian also invested heavily in good musicians and his deep pockets allowed him to attract respected artists from all around Europe. Famous artists came to work at his court and they were paid handsomely; notable examples are Heinrich Schütz (1633-1635, 1642-1644) who was paid 800 dollars annually for assuming the title of kapellmeister10, compared to a rough average of 200 dollars that most of the musicians were paid11, and John Dowland (1598-1606) who was apparently offered the pay of a fleet admiral 12. Christian also invested in the betterment of his own Danish born musicians and sent some of his most promising musicians, such as Mogens Pedersøn, Hans Nielsen and Melchior Borchgrevinck to Venice to study with Giovanni Gabrieli in 1599 13. 

Despite being large, Christian’s music chapel cannot be said to have been abnormal. The Danish court was following the trends of the time and if they employed more musicians than most, it was only because they could afford to do so. It was quite an international royal chapel, favouring Dutch singers and English lutenists and violists (Bergsagel). It is also notable how many German musicians worked at the court, especially as instrumentalists and trumpeters 14. The Danish court was closely related to Germany and Christian sought further influence within the Empire. It may be that the high number of German musicians working at the court is simply a reflection of how German Christian’s court was becoming. Afterall, not only was Christian IV the king of Denmark-Norway, but also a prince of the Holy Roman Empire