Treaty Of Roskilde

The Treaty of Roskilde was signed on February 26 , 1658 in the Danish city Roskilde . After a devastating defeat in the Northern Wars (1655-1661), the King of Denmark-Norway was forced to give up nearly half his territory to save the rest. The treaties conditions included¹ ² ³:

The immediate ceding of the Danish province Skåne to Sweden .

The immediate ceding of the Danish province Blekinge to Sweden.

The immediate ceding of the Danish province Halland , which under the terms of the Peace Of Brömsebro , negotiated in 1645 was then occupied by Sweden for a term of 30 years, to Sweden.

The immediate ceding of the Norwegian province of Båhus to Sweden . This effectively secured for Sweden unrestricted access to western trade.

The immediate ceding of the Norwegian provinces of Trøndelag to Sweden .

Danish renunciation of all anti-Swedish alliances.

Danish prevention of any warships hostile to Sweden passing through the straits into the Baltic .

Restoration of the Duke of Holstein-Gottrop to his estates. ⁴

Danish payment for Swedish occupation forces costs.

Danish provision of troops to serve Charles in his broader wars. ⁵

BACKGROUND

As the Northern Wars progressed, Charles X Gustav Of Sweden crossed the frozen straits and occupied the Danish island of Zealand , with the invasion beginning on February 11 , 1658 . A preliminary treaty, the Treaty Of Taastrup , was signed on February 18 , 1658 with the final treaty, the Treaty of Roskilde, signed on February 26 , 1658 .

Although Sweden also invaded Romsdal , Norway the farmers there defied the Swedish taxes and military conscription vigorously, and the Swedish governor was forced to send a full company of soldiers, and 50 cavalry besides, to collect taxes. The occupation was not successful. ⁶

EPILOGUE

The Swedish king was not content with his stunning victory, and at the Swedish Council held at Gottorp on July 7, Charles X Gustav resolved to wipe his inconvenient rival from the map of Europe . Without any warning, in defiance of international treaty, he ordered his troops to attack Denmark-Norway a second time. There followed an attack on the capital Copenhagen , whose residents successfully defended themselves with help from the Dutch , who honored their 1649 treaty to defend Denmark against unprovoked invasion by providing naval forces. Trapped on the Danish islands by superior Danish and Dutch forces, Charles was forced to withdraw.

Meanwhile Norwegian forces succeeded expelling the Swedish occupiers from Trøndelag . Eventually, the resulting Treaty Of Copenhagen in 1660 restored Trøndelag to Norway, and also the island of Bornholm to Denmark. The island of Anholt off the coast of Halland , was technically never ceded, and thus remained in Dano-Norwegian possession.

In the 1658 Treaty Of Roskilde , Denmark ceded the Trondheim region of Norway to Sweden, down to the north bank of the Romsdalfjord. Following the attack on Copenhagen and the city's successful defence, and the reconquest by Norwegian forces of Trondheim , the Treaty Of Copenhagen in 1660 restored that province to Norway. The reversion of Trøndelag in the Treaty reflects strong local resistance to the Swedish occupation. Although the Swedish invasion was initially welcomed, or at least not resisted, the Swedes issued Conscription orders in Trøndelag and forced 2000 men and young boys down to 15 years of age to join the Swedish wars against Poland and Brandenburg. King Karl X Gustav was afraid that the Trønder s would rise against their Swedish occupants, and thought it wise to keep a large part of the men away. Only about one third of the men ever returned to their homes, some of them were forced to settle in the Swedish province of Estonia , as the Swedes thought it would be easier to rule the Trønders there, Divide And Rule . Trøndelag had already a major part of its men in the Dano-Norwegian army, so the Swedish forced conscription, in fact emptied Trøndelag of males. The result was devastating, as the farms now were left without enough hands to harvest the fields, and famine struck the region. Some local historians of Trøndelag have termed this Genocide of the Trønders. ⁷

The few months of experience with Swedish taxation and conscription left such a bitter taste that it strengthened Norwegian unity and patriotism, making resistance to Swedish invasions of Norway stronger over the next 80 years.

According to the Treaty of Roskilde's 9th article ( Paragraph ) which ceded ''Skåne'', the inhabitants of the Scanian lands were assured of their privileges, old laws and customs. Yet, the process of Swedification was soon initiated in a brutal way.See for instance article ''Skåne'' in the Swedish Nordisk Familjebok encyclopedia. This old paragraph is still referred to by a subset of Scanians demanding regional independence and recognition.

REFERENCES

EXTERNAL LINKS

at the Danish-language Wikisource

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Treaty Of Roskilde