Kalmar Union

The Kalmar Union was a personal union in Scandinavia, agreed at Kalmar in Sweden as designed by Queen Margaret of Denmark. From 1397 to 1523, it joined under a single monarch the three kingdoms of Denmark, Sweden (then including much of present-day Finland), and Norway, together with Norway's maritime colonies (then including Iceland, Greenland, the Faroe Islands, and the Northern Isles of Orkney and Shetland). The union was not quite continuous; there were several short interruptions. Legally, the countries remained separate sovereign states, but their domestic and foreign policies were directed by a common monarch. Gustav Vasa's election as King of Sweden on 6 June 1523, and his triumphant entry into Stockholm 11 days later, marked Sweden's final secession from the Kalmar Union. Frederick I formally renounced his claim to Sweden in 1524 at the Treaty of Malmö.