after much oppofition on the part o f the S\Vedes, was folem-
— v— ■ ni zed at Copenhagen, in 1363, when ihe was only in the
eleventh year o f her age. Margaret gave lb many proofs of
her prudence and courage when Haquin loft the crown of
•Sweden, as induced Valdemar frequently to fay o f her, that
nature intended her for a man, and had erred in making
iher a woman *.
Upon the demife o f hèr father in 13 75 , ihé had the ad-
. drefs to fecurè thè election o f hèr fon Oloff, then only five
years o f age, in preference to the fon o f her eldeft filter.In-
geburga ; and, Upon the death o f her hhlband Haquin, die
fecured his fueeeflion to the crown o f Norway. Being regent
during OlofPs minority, her adminiftration was fo vigorous,
prudent, and popular, that, upon his premature death
in 1385, ihe was chofen quéèn by the ftates o f Denmark ;
the firft inftance, perhaps, in a government wholly eledtive,
and in which cuftom had not authorized the election o f a female,
o f a woman being exaltod to the throne by the free
and unanimous fuffrages o f a warlike people. With the
fame addrefs ihe procured the crown of Norway ; and was
equally fuccefsful in gaining that of Sweden. Albert had
been chofen king, and might have preferved his power, i f it
had not been his fate to contend with fuch a rival as Margaret.
When, itt aliufion to her fex, he ftyled her, in derifion,
the king in petticoats, ihe anfwered his reproach by a ¿lions,
not by words ; and made him forely repent o f his vaunts,
■when he found hi'mfelf worfted in every engagement ; when
depofed and captive, he owed his life to the clemency o f the
very woman whom he had fo wantonly infulted. By the famous
union of Calmar in 13.97, ihe united thethree Northern
kingdoms, and held them undivided during her reign, hot“
* rom an i Hift. Dan ; 544.
7 withflanding
withftanding the averfion o f the Swedes to the Daniih g o - c h a p .
vernrnent. . v ' >
ftqt from nothing is the vigour and policy o f her conduct
mope confpjcuous than from this confideration, that the perpetual
revolts and inteftine convulfions, which continually
difturbed the reigns o f the fovereigns who immediately preceded
and foHowed her, were fubdued throughout her whole
adminiftration; This internal tranquility, more glorious,
though lefs fplendid, than her warlike atchievements, and
which was very unufuaj in thofe turbulent times, could only
pe derived from the over-ruling afcendancy o f her fuperior
genius.
This great prineefs died fuddenly on the 27 th o f Odtober,,
14 13 , in the 60th year o f her age, and, if we include the period
o f her regency,, in the 30th of her reign, leaving the
three, kingdom? to the quiet pofleffion o f her fucceffor, Eric
o f Pomerania;: and to her fubjects the regret o f her lofs, by
the experience o f thofe calamities which broke in upon the •
ftate when the fgeptre was wielded by a lefs able hand; Her
remains were firft depofited at Soroe, but were removed to*
this cathedral hy order o f the bifhop of Roikild #.
All the fovereigns o f the hoqfe o f Old.enburgh, which ftilT
pofl'effes the throne o f Denmark, are interred in the cathedral'
o f Roikild, excepting John, Chriftian II, and Frederick p
Chriftian I. the father o f this line, .lies in a fmall chapel, ,
without any monument or infcription. He was count of
Oldenburgh, and owed his elevation, as well to his lineal de- -
fcent ftom Eric. VII, as t.o the moderation o f his uncle Adol-
phus duke pf Slefwick, Upon the death o f Chriftopher o f
Bavaria without iffue, the ftates of Denmark offered thethrone ■
* H ie primum fep u lta , fed ppile a p e r v io len te r tranflata, & R o lt i ld is fep u lta . -
Dora in um Petrum Epifcopum Roflcildenfern L a n g eb e k , T om , I V . p . 5 4 * .