On this page
-
Text (1)
-
94 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.
-
-
Transcript
-
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...
tlie curses which the rough cruelty of the viceroys pressed from the hearts of the le . " Of his treachery and incompetence , however ,
enough has been peop said already . How he forfeited and dismembered the gigantic fabric which her genius had built up ; how he was
deposed by his oppressed and tortured subjects ; how , in the effort to regain his crownhe foughtfailedfledand died at last an exile and
a pirate , can be but , briefly , outlined , in , these pages ; for it is not with the Pomeranian that we have to deal , but with Margaret .
On the subject of her character and merits historians offer con--flicting inionsand are much influenced by national prejudice .
The literature op of , Denmark treats tenderlof her faultsandholds her memory up to the love and admiration y of posterity , ; but , by
the Swedes she is hated to this day , and by the Norwegians remembered with slight affection . Like all who reign over more than one for
nation , she has been accused of entertaining an undue partiality her own country-people ; and that famous sentence wherein she recommended Eric to " feed himself upon Swedento clothe himself * from
, Norway , and to defend himself with Denmark , " is with bitterness repeated by every Swedish or Norwegian author who sits down to
write of the Union of Calmar . That her taxation was heavy , that she was readto promise and readier to forgetthat she favored the
y , priesthood to the disadvantage of the laity , that in politics she was Machiavellian , and that in her private life she was not so
circumspect as would have , been consistent with her greatness , are points urged by her detractors and not altogether deniable by her friends .
But to these errors she united great virtues and great deeds , and it were difficult to name any sovereign throughout all the chronicles of
history , who , being invested with such power and tried by such prosperity , yielded less to those temptations which are the curse of .
kings To . her humanity , her love of peace , and her magnanimity , the
foregoing pages have borne ample testimony . Inflexible to the noblesshe was just to the peasantsand their good will affords , after
allthe , fairest measure of her merit , . She rescued Sweden from desolation , , and the people of all her three kingdoms from the
tyranny of the aristocracy . To that force of character and steadiness of judgment which more frequently belongs to man , she added
the persuasive eloquence and subtle fascinations which are supposed to be the legitimate weapons of her sex . She was ambitious without
seeming to be so , and achieved greatness while appearing only to follow the dictates of circumstance . As a woman she reigned where
no woman had ever reigned before ; and by her forethought , coolnessand dexterityunited and controlled three rough , prejudiced ,
, , and warlike nations . Too prudent and too enlightened to rely on mere military conquests , she superseded the necessity of bloodshed ,
and succeeded less by force of arms than by the resources of her mind . " She was , " says Bernizius , " a woman too sparingly praised
by the age ; yet , however envy may " gainsay her , to be extolled
94 Margaret Of Norway.
94 MARGARET OF NORWAY .
-
-
Citation
-
English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), April 1, 1859, page 94, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01041859/page/22/
-