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MARGARET OF NORWAY. 89
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.
-A*«-> • It Was Now The Year 1396, And T...
The-more popular she grew , however , with the second and third estatesthe less Queen Margaret was liked Jby the firstand the
less she , cared for its confidence . As her position becam , e firmer , her government became more absolute ; and she now openly sought
to humiliate her arrogant nobles . She abridged their privileges ; she subjected them to taxation ; she compelled them to marry
according to her own will and pleasure . Thus when Christina Tolt , a noble Danish damsel-was about to wed one Holger Hunkwho was
as well born as herself , , the Queen interposed , and gave , the lady ' s hand to a man of inferior station . Grieve as they might , the lovers
could obtain no redress ; but the bride , to show her sense of the injpresented her unwelcome bridegroom with a ring of gold
and ury copp , er , on which was inscribed , "[ Amend thyself , copper nail ; thou liest in gold ! " 'With the Swedish nobles Queen Margaret was
still more severe ; probably because they were more dangerous , and farther removed fromher jurisdiction . Although she had
engaged to respect their , ancient liberties , she oppressed them heavily , and burthened them with the laws and taxes of Denmark . On one
occasion they sent up a deputation to remonstrate with her on the violation of her promises , and , towards the end of the address ,
reminded her that they still preserved the records of the treaty . fc' Then , _" replied she , " I would advise you to keep them as
carefully as I shall continue to keep the cities and castles of my kingdom , and all the rihts belonging to my dignity . "
g At the very time , however , that she was asserting * her royal authority , and establishing the future safety of the throne , domestic
troubles , and , worse still , domestic treasons , were embittering the quiet of her private life . Naturally base and ungrateful , Eric of
Pomerania had already proved himself unworthy of his high position , and of the affection which had been lavished upon him . He was
rapacious—he was incompetent—he was cruel . He conducted himself with insolence towards Queen Margaret who had so honoured and
indulged him . He resented her superiority by a thousand mean retaliations . He strove to organise conspiracies against her . He
plotted many times to possess himself of the reins of government . Continually forgiven , he as continually offended , and neither pardon
nor failure availed to warn him . Nor was this the only anxiety that Margaret had now to encounter .
Treating , some few pages back , of the death of Olaf in the year 1387 we there recorded some of the suspicions which attached to
Queen , Margaret , and endeavoured to prove their injustice . Those suspicions had never wholly faded from the minds of the people , and
a very general belief prevailed that King Olaf would some day escape from the castle or monastery in which he had been confined ,
and return to claim his own . "Wherever there exists a national fallacy of this kind , an adventurer who knows how to turn it to
account is rarely wanting . In the present instance , however , an unusual length of time went by before any such adventurer
vol . in . it
Margaret Of Norway. 89
MARGARET OF _NORWAY . 89
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), April 1, 1859, page 89, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01041859/page/17/
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