virtual sovereign of Denmark, was
assassinated by the Danish patriot Niels Ebbeson.

Christopher's third son, Waldemar, surnamed Atterdag,
because he used to say when a misfortune happened,
"To-morrow it is again day," was recalled from Bavaria and
crowned king as Waldemar IV. He commenced at once with vigor
and marked success the improvement of the internal
conditions of the country, and strove to encompass his chief
ambition, the reunion of the ancient Danish possessions.

By marrying his daughter Margaret to Hakon VI, King of
Norway and son of Magnus Smek, King of Sweden, Waldemar laid
a basis for a junction of the three great Scandinavian
kingdoms. The union was realized under the administration of
his illustrious and sagacious daughter, Margaret, known as
the "Semiramis of the North."

Waldemar Atterdag left no direct male issue. But his two grandsons,
Albert the Younger, of Mecklenburg, a son of Ingeborg, Waldemar's eldest
daughter, and of Henry of Mecklenburg; and Olaf, a son of Margaret, his
younger daughter, and of Hakon VI of Norway, were now claiming the
hereditary succession to the throne. One party declared for Olaf, but,
as he was the son of the younger daughter, his claim was very doubtful.
But because the house of Mecklenburg had acted with hostility toward
Denmark, and Olaf had expectation of Norway and claims to the crown of
Sweden, as a grandson of Magnus Smek, Denmark was, by his election, in
hopes of one day seeing the three crowns united on the same head. It was
therefore not long before this important affair was determined. The
preference was given Olaf, who, although only six years of age, was,
under the name of Olaf V, elected king of Denmark, under the
guardianship of Margaret his mother; and after the death of his father
Hakon VI, he became also king of Norway, the two kingdoms thus being
united. This union, till the expiration of four hundred and thirty-four
years, was not dissolved. When Olaf V, seven years after, died in
Falsterbo, both kingdoms elected Margaret their queen, though custom had
not yet authorized the election of a female.

During the reign of this great Princess, who deservedly has been called
the "Semiramis of the North," Denmark and Norway exercised in Europe an
influence the effects of which were long felt throughout the
Scandinavian countries with their vast extent and rival races. She
united wisdom and policy with courage and determinatio