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10 MARGARET OF NORWAY.
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
» Of At So A Time Much Like Discussion T...
was tlie month , of December . Tlie _Tboisteroiis North . Sea was more than usually treacherousand the Lady Elizabeth was wrecked with
, all her suite upon the coast of Denmark . No sooner did these tidings reach Copenhagen , than King- Waldemar sent an escort to
bring the travellers to court , and received them with extraordinary lendour . A succession of entertainments were then given in their
honor sp ; Hako was invited over to meet his bride , and the lady , charmed by the civilities of her royal host , suspected no wrong .
Hako came , however , and she found herself a prisoner in her apartments . Too profound a tactician to let this golden opportunity
escape , Waldemar had laid his plans and played his part to admira- , tion . He knew his own powers of persuasion , and he knew with
what manner of man he had to deal . He delayed the interview between Hako and Elizabeth ; he represented the advantages of an
alliance with his own family ; he urged the value of his past services when he conquered Scania for King Magnus just four years
before . His success went almost beyond his hopes . It needed but a few days to renew all the old projects , and turn the fickle
Norwegian from his purpose . Elizabeth was forgotten , and in the first week of January 1363 Hako ( without having even seen his
in-, _* tended wife ) was publicly married to the Princess of Denmark . From this point Margaret ' s personal history may be said to date ,
since up to this point we hear of her only as she is involved in the schemes , failures , and successes of others . Already it seemed that
she was destined for no ordinary career . Betrothed when only seven years old , she was wedded and Queen of two great kingdoms at the
early age of eleven , —nor this without such variations of fortune as seldom befal the first few years of childhood . It had been a moot
point throughout whether she or Elizabeth of Holstein should share King Hako ' s double crown . First of all he broke faith with
Elizabeth and affianced himself to Margaret ; next he rejected Margaret for Elizabeth , and married her by proxy ; lastly he jilted
Elizabeth , though she was dwelling within the walls of the same city ( perhaps of the same palace ) as himself , and gave his hand and
marriage-vow to the child Margaret . Had his ultimate choice fallen on the sister of the Counts of Holsteinthe history of North
, Europe would have lost its most extraordinary chapters : as it was , chance and a west wind turned the scale in Denmark ' s favor , and
Waldemar ' s little daughter entered on that splendid career which has since caused her to be styled " The Semiramis of the North . " .
Never handsome , she was at this time almost plain ; but tall and strong for her ageand remarkably intelligent . Dark of complexion ,
ready of wit , vigorous , both of mind and body , she was more like a boy than a girland the very reverse of her sister Ingeborg . So
, bold was she , indeed , and so clever , that her father used sometimes i
to lament her sex , and say that Nature was in error tomake a woman of one who should have been a hero . That , although she
was his youngest child , he should have preferred to put her forward
10 Margaret Of Norway.
10 MARGARET OF NORWAY .
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), March 1, 1859, page 10, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01031859/page/10/
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