1524, certain of the southernmost Swedish provinces remained for a
time under Danish control.[777] It was the lot of Norway, on the (p. 554)
other hand, not alone to be brought more thoroughly into subjection to
Denmark than was Sweden, but to continue under Danish sovereignty
until 1814, and even at that date to pass instantly from the control
of Denmark into that of Sweden, rather than to regain her ancient
independence.

[Footnote 776: The nominal sovereign was Margaret's
great-nephew, Eric of Pomerania, who was elected at
a convention of representatives of the three
kingdoms held simultaneously with the establishment
of the Union. Eric was deposed in 1439.]

[Footnote 777: R. N. Bain, Scandinavia, a Political
History of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden (Cambridge,
1905), Chap. 3; P. B. Watson, The Swedish
Revolution under Gustavus Vasa (London, 1889).]

*608. The Loss of Norway, 1814.*--The loss of Norway by Denmark was an
incident of the Napoleonic wars. During the course of those wars
Denmark, as long as was practicable, maintained a policy of
neutrality. But in 1807, after she had rejected an offer of a British
alliance, she was attacked by a British fleet, and thereupon she
became the firmest and most persistent of the allies of Napoleon. Thus
it came about that when the contest of the powers drew to an end
Denmark had the misfortune to be found upon the losing side. Sweden
stood with the Allies, and the upshot was that, to compensate that
nation for her loss of Finland to Russia and of Pomerania to Prussia,
the Allies gave their consent, in 1812-1813, to the dismemberment by
Sweden of the Danish dominion. The work was accomplished by the French
marshal Bernadotte, crown prince of Sweden (by adoption) from 1810,
and later king (1818-1844). By the Treaty of Kiel, January 14, 1814,
Norway was ceded perforce by Denmark to Sweden, and by the Congress of
Vienna, later in the year, the transfer was accorded the formal
approval of the powers. The Norwegians objected and proceeded to elect
as their king a Danish prince; but in the end they were compelled to
submit. Denmark was unable to do more than make ineffectual protest.

*609. Political Development: the Revolution of 1660.*--The governmental
system with which Denmark emerged from the era of Napol