me immemorial were
nominated. The Act of Union stipulated that the two kingdoms were to
remain perfectly independent, the king to sojourn an equally long part
of the year in each, with no official of either country to accompany
him further than the frontier. In their foreign relations the
countries were to be independent, but to support each other in case of
war. The king was the only tie to bind them together.

There was another Magnus whose candidacy was spoiled by this union. He
was the son of King Birger, already as a child chosen king of Sweden
in succession to his father. Magnus Birgersson, a prisoner at
Stockholm, was beheaded in 1320, to make safe the reign of his more
fortunate cousin. King Magnus was only three years old, and Drotsete
Mattias Kettilmundsson presided over the government during his
minority, the nobles of the state council having great power and
influence. Both in Sweden and Norway the nobility had by this time
attained a supremacy which was oppressive both to the king and the
people, not so much through their privileges as through the liberties
they took. Their continual feuds between themselves disturbed the
peace of the country.

In 1332, King Magnus took charge of the government. He was a ruler of
benign and good disposition toward the common people, whose interests
he always furthered. But he lacked strength of character, and was not
able to control the obnoxious nobles. The provinces of Scania and
Bleking suffered greatly under Danish rule, which was changed into
German oppression when handed over to the counts of Holstein as
security for a loan. The people of Scania rose in revolt and asked for
protection from King Magnus. At a meeting in Kalmar, in 1832, both
provinces were united to Sweden. But the king had to pay heavy amounts
in settlement, which were increased when Halland was procured in a
similar way.

King Magnus was, at his zenith of power, one of the mightiest monarchs
in Europe, having under his rule the entire Scandinavian peninsula and
Finland, a realm stretching from the sound at Elsinore to the Polar
Sea, from the river Neva to Iceland and Greenland. In 1335, King
Magnus decreed that no Christian within his realm should remain a
thrall, thus practically abolishing the remnants of slavery.

But financial difficulties arose, an unsuccessful crusade was
attempted, the "Black Death" came from England to Norway in 1350 and
spread with great rapidity, and several other thing