[December 9] Malcolm IV, king of Scots

Malcolm IV, on right, beside his grandsire, David I

Local Name: Máel Coluim mac Eanric
Sobriquet: "The Maiden" (Virgo) or "Canmore (The Great Chief)
Parents: Henry, earl of Huntingdon, and ada de Warenne
Date of Birth: 23 April 1141
House: Dunkeld
Predecessor: David I, king of Scots

Reign: 1153 – 1165
Brief: The first monarch in a short period of instability in Scotland that culminated in the Scottish War of Independence. Malcolm's father, Henry, died unexpectedly in the 1140s leaving his children as the heirs to David I. Malcolm was the oldest of these, who became heir to Scotland at the age of eleven. Two years later, he became king, though his succession was not undisputed. A rival king in Scotland, Somerled, as well as the lord of Galloway and King Henry II of England all contested Malcolm's rise to power. With England, Malcolm claimed the earldom of Northumbria which he gave to his brother, William. These were English fiefs and Malcolm delayed his homage to Henry causing Henry to revoke Cumbria and Northumbria, exchanging them for the earldom of Huntingdon. Further internal feuds dominated most of his reign, especially conflict with Somerled. Malcolm eventually died at the age of twenty-four, possibly due to an unusual disease causing enlarged and deformed bones. The king died unmarried and without heirs, passing the throne to his brother, William.
Date of Death: 9 December 1165

Successor: William I

Other Monarchs Who Died Today:

• Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor (1437)
• Pius IV, pope of Rome (1565)
• Clement IX, pope of Rome (1669)
• Pedro II, king of Portugal (1706)

[December 5] François II, king of France

Parents: Henri II, king of France, and Catherine de' Medici
Date of Birth: 19 January 1544
House: Capet-Valois-Angoulême
Spouse(s): Mary I, queen of Scots, daughter of James V, king of Scots, and Mary of Guise
Predecessor: Henri II

Reign: 1559 – 1560
Brief: One of the child kings of the later Valois dynasty, François rules for only a scant year and a half before dying from an ear infection caused by one of numerous possible diseases. During his brief life, however, a lot happened in France. In 1548, he married six-year-old Mary I, queen of Scots, and became the king consort of Scotland. In 1558, the two were crowned rulers of Scotland formally and, had François lived, their children would have been destined to be rulers of both France and Scotland (and, presumably, England). François became king of France in July 1559 and, though only fifteen, was deemed fit to rule France as an adult. He worked with his uncles, and Mary's mother, from the House of Guise, and immediately began persecuting Protestants in France. A conspiracy rose against the king and his Guise advisors which sought to replace the Valois dynasty with that of the Bourbons, who supported Protestantism. Conciliation attempts tried to ease the tension, but things only became worse and François was finally forced to directly confront the Protestant uprising by arresting its leader, his cousin, the prince of Condé in late 1560. Scotland rose up in revolt that same year, since François and Mary had signed a secret charter turning the kingdom into a crown fief of France if Mary died without children. Scotland declared itself free of French influence and a Protestant state, and Mary sequestered herself from government. Unfortunately for them, François died soon after, leaving Mary grieved with little military support to reassert herself in Scotland.
Date of Death: 6 December 1560

Successor: Charles IX

Other Monarchs Who Died Today:

• Ramon Berenguer II, count of Barcelona (1082)
• John III, duke of Brabant (1355)
• Pedro II, emperor of Brasil (1891)

[August 3] James II, king of Scots

Parents: James I, king of Scots, and Joan Beaufort

Date of Birth: 16 October 1430
House: Stewart
Spouse(s): Mary, daughter of Arnold, duke of Guelders, and Catherine of Cleves
Predecessor: James I
Reign: 1437 – 1460
Summary: The assassination of King James I in February 1437 catapulted the little Prince James into the throne at the age of six. Like so many other Stewart kings, he had a long minority during which time his cousin, Archibald Douglas, 5th earl of Douglas, ruled as his regent. He spent the first two years of his reign at Dunbar Castle while the Scottish Parliament confiscated various landholdings of the king. Douglas's death in 1439 caused Scotland to be ruled by a council of two, the Lord Chancellor of Scotland and Sir Alexander Livingston, who cared for the king at Stirling Castle. When James II reached adulthood in 1449, he had virtually no knowledge of how to rule a kingdom.

The Douglases used James' nineteenth birthday as an opportunity to retake control over the government from Livingston and James sat passively by during the crisis. Three years later, the Earl Douglas was murdered at Stirling Castle in 1452, and Scottish politics became quite confusing for a time. James committed the murder himself, in all likelihood, after he broke into a fit of rage concerning an axis of power being created between Douglas and the powerful earls of Ross and Crawford. His court officials then joined in and stabbed Douglas until he was unrecognizable. Civil war broke out for three years in Scotland, during which time James attempted to seize all of the Douglas lands. He finally agreed to a peace and returned his seized lands to James Douglas, the 9th earl. Soon after, Douglass rebelled again. At the battle of Arkinholm in 1455, with the assistance of Crawford, James finally decisively defeated the Douglas clan. They were stripped of their lands and exiled to England. James finally could govern Scotland as he wished and no later king of Scots faced such opposition from a rival clan. Scotland was well on its way to becoming an absolute monarchy. His next plan was to take control over the Lordship of the Isles from the MacDonald clan which ruled from Ross. James spent much of the last years of his reign traveling the country, remitting crimes for payments to the crown. By 1458, a parliamentary decree commanded the king to cease his ways regarding his treatment of criminals. His last act was to siege Roxburgh Castle, a fortress controlled by the English since the Wars of Independence 150 years earlier. James brought cannon to the battle and one of them exploded, killing the king. The siege was won three days later but it was his widow, Mary of Guelders, who claimed the victory for their nine-year-old son, James III.

Date of Death: 3 August 1460
Successor: James III

[June 7] Robert I, king of Scots

Parents: Robert, lord of Annandale, and Marjorie, Countess of Carrick

Date of Birth: 11 July 1274

House: Bruce

Spouse: (1) Isabella, daughter of Domhnall I, earl of Mar, and Helen of Wales, then (2) Elizabeth, daughter of Richard, earl of Ulster, and Margarite de Burgh

Predecessor: John

Reign: 1306 – 1329

Summary: The descendant of Norman mercenaries who fought for William the Conqueror in England in the eleventh century, Robert Bruce may have seemed an unlikely candidate for the throne of Scotland in 1306. His claim was strictly hereditary and it was not the best. The strongest claim went to John Balliol, the elected king of Scots between 1292 and 1296 when King Edward I of England installed him. John was still alive when the Scots rose up in rebellion in 1296, and Robert was one of the leaders. This was possible because Robert was the great-great-grandson of David, earl of Huntingdon, the grandson of King David I of Scotland. Through various dynastic problems, the male line of the House of Dunkeld ended in 1286 and the next-in-line died four years later having never made it to Scotland. The Guardians of the Realm, major nobles in Scotland, could not decide on a successor. John was the senior-most representative via primogeniture, but Robert's grandfather was the eldest surviving relative (called proximity-of-blood). The Bruce line refused to accept John as king and supported King Edward I when he decided to depose John in 1296. Robert became the earl of Carrick in 1292 when his mother died and he attempted to remain outside of Scottish politics for the first few years of his adult life. In 1297, Robert reneged on his fealty to Edward of England and joined the rebel cause. He briefly came to terms with England but then resumed the fight after the Battle of Stirling Bridge. Interestingly, he laid waste to his own English lands in Annandale. When William Wallace resigned as the Guardian of Scotland after the Battle of Falkirk, Robert and John's nephew John Comyn took over the post. Robert remained in the position a year before resigning. Robert returned to the English side in the conflict in 1302 after a truce was agreed upon. By 1304, all of Scotland was under Edward's control and all the leaders of the revolt had pledged their fealty to Edward except for Wallace. While Wallace was captured in Glasgow then quartered in London, Edward was busy destroying Scotland as a realm, installing English lords and demanding high tributes to England. Robert resided in England for a while until a conspiracy led by John Comyn forced him to flee to Scotland and kill the upstart. Robert, seeing no alternative, declared himself the rightful king of Scots and was crowned at Perth in 1306.

Robert I's reign started on several bad notes. He was defeated twice and his wife and daughters were captured. Two daughters and a brother were later executed by Edward I. Luckily, the king died soon after leaving the English throne to the incapable Edward II. For two years, Robert was a king on the run. Southern Scotland was in the midst of a guerrilla war; two more of Robert's brothers were killed near Loch Ryan. Robert finally began to take ground 1307, capturing castles in the Highlands and burning anything he could not take. At the Battle o the Pass of Brander, the remaining Comyn Clan as well as the MacDougalls were almost completely killed, ending their rival claim to the throne. In 1309, the Scottish Parliament recognized Robert as king of Scots. Over the next five years, English outposts throughout Scotland were reduced to ashes. Even the Isle of Man was captured in 1314. In that year, at the Battle of Bannockburn, Edward II was defeated in person and Scottish independence was secured from the English. Scottish armies marched into northern England to reclaim hereditary lands while Robert and his brother Edward invaded Ireland to free that island from the English yoke. Edward was even crowned High King of Ireland, the last person to ever receive the title. Robert hoped to secure a pan-Gaelic alliance with the goal of eventually uniting Ireland and Scotland into one state. His second marriage to the daughter of the earl of Ulster and his Gaelic ancestry on his mother's side helped support his goal. Unfortunately, southern Gaels in Ireland refused to support Robert's goals and many saw the invasion as Scottish imperialism. Edward Bruce was killed in 1318 and the struggle for Ireland largely ended after that. England finally recognized Scotland as an independent state and Robert as its king in 1328 under Edward III after Pope John XXII lifted an English-influenced excommunication of the king two decades earlier. Robert died the following year from a disease that had been effecting him for years; possibly leprosy. Robert I was succeeded by his young son David II to the throne. The son of his daughter, Marjorie, would eventually become the first Stewart king, Robert II.

Date of Death: 7 June 1329

Successor: David II

Other Monarch Deaths:

Ashikaga Takauji, shogun of Japan (1358)

Frederick William III, king of Prussia (1840)

[February 8] Mary I, queen of Scots

Parents: James V, king of Scots, and Mary of Guise

Date of Birth: 8 December 1542

Royal House: Stuart (Stewart)

Spouse: Francis II, king of France, then Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, then James Hepburn, earl of Bothwell

Reign: 1542 – 1567

Predecessor: James V

Summary: The last of the Scottish Stewart line, Mary became queen at the age of six days old. For the first twelve years of her life, Scotland was ruled by a regency led by James Hamilton, earl of Arran and Mary's senior heir. In 1543, Henry VIII of England proposed the marriage of his son, Edward, to Mary to unify Scotland and England. Scotland declined the offer and Henry sought to force it by invading Scotland. France came to the aide of Scotland and proposed their own marriage alliance, which Mary of Guise, Mary's mother, accepted. Mary moved to France and spent the next thirteen years in the French court, with thoughts of Scotland drifting into memory. At the age of 16, Mary wed the French dauphin, Francis, and he became the King consort of Scots. The next year, the king of France died. Mary I and Francis II now acted as unified monarchs of Scotland and France, though both were still minors. With the death of Mary I of England in 1558, Mary also assumed the title "king of England", refusing to recognize the Protestant Elizabeth I of England. Mary came into her majority just as her husband died of an ear infection in 1560. She returned to Scotland as queen and widow, and began her personal reign in ernest.

Mary walked the line of the Protestant-Catholic conflict in Scotland too closely, and it cost her. Despite her personal Catholic convictions, she permitted Protestantism in Scotland. Her Privy Council was mostly Protestants and she actively suppressed Catholicism in the Highlands. Mary also tried multiple times to make amends with Elizabeth of England, but failed on all accounts. As a drastic measure, then, she married the second-in-line to the English throne (herself being first), Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley. Interestingly, the marriage was not for political purposes, but apparently out of love. In either case, Elizabeth became concerned that Scotland would inherit England upon her death. In Scotland, the marriage of Mary to another Catholic incensed the Protestants who went into open revolt. Meanwhile Darnley had become jealous of Mary secretary, Rizzio, and had him murdered in front of the queen. He also demanded the title "king of Scots" and to be given more political power. Mary bore a son, James, in 1566, but Darnley's time was up. While recovering from an illness, his house was attacked and blown up, killing Darnley. The Earl of Bothwell was targeted as the likely instigator of the plot. Mary acquitted Bothwell and was abducted by him two weeks later. They were married a month later, thereby sealing Mary's fate as a failed monarch. The nobility turned against Mary, imprisoned her, and forced her to abdicate in favor of prince James on 24 July 1567. She was moved around Scotland for a number of years before being permanently imprisoned in England. Mary plotted time and again to escape and regain her throne, but it was an assassination plot against Elizabeth that brought her to the cutting block. On 8 February 1587, Queen Mary was beheaded for treason against the English monarch. Her son went on to inherit England from Elizabeth, thereby accomplishing the goal Mary had spent much of her life attempting.

Date of Death: 8 February 1587

Successor: James VI

Other Monarchs Who Died Today:

• Alexius IV, emperor of Constantinople (1204)
• Robert I, count of Artois (1250)
• Hulagu Khan, khagan of the Mongol Horde (1265)
• Przemysl II, king of Poland (1296)
• Ivan V, tsar of Russia (1696)
• Peter I, tsar of Russia (1725)

[January 8] Edgar, king of Scots

True Name: Étgar mac Maíl Choluim

Surnamed: "The Valiant"

Parents: Malcolm III, king of Scots, and St. Margaret of England

Date of birth: circa 1074

Royal House: Dunkeld

Predecessor: Duncan II

Reign: 1097 – 1107

Summary: Edgar was not the obvious heir when he first put his claim to the kingship of Scotland in 1095. He claimed the throne following the murder of his half-brother, Duncan II, who claimed the throne against his uncle, Donald III. His elder brother, Edmund, supported Donald which made things much more difficult. Donald and Edmund were finally defeated in 1097 with the help of Edgar's namesake, his uncle Edgar Ætheling, the very brief king of England during the Norman Conquest. 

During his first few years, Edgar appeared to be a pawn of the English court. He payed homage to England and appeared at various festivals in London. When King William II of England died in 1099, Edgar cut ties. Edgar's reign was relatively uneventful. He settled a major border dispute with Norway involving the so-called Kingdom of the Western Isles & Mann, which was a Norwegian fief. He also engaged the Irish High King and gifted him a camel or an elephant, brought to Scotland during the First Crusade. Prior to his death, Edgard named his brother, Alexander, his successor. His youngest brother, David, was given a large land that once constituted the Kingdom of Strathclyde. David, too, would later become king of Scots.

Date of Death: 8 January 1107

Successor: Alexander I, king of Scots

Other Monarchs Who Died Today:

• Jin Huidi, Jin emperor of China (307)
• Clement III, antipope of Rome (1100)
• Celestine III, pope of Rome (1198)
• Albert, margrave of Brandenburg-Kulmbach (1553)
• John George, elector of Brandenburg (1598)
• Joshua A. Norton, self-proclaimed emperor of the United States (1880)

Two States, One King (Divided Rule)

Two years ago last December, I completed my master's dissertation on the topic of dynastic unions. Specifically, I focused on the dynastic union of England and the United Provinces of the Netherlands under King William III and the union of Great Britain (later the United Kingdom) and the Electorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg (later Kingdom of Hanover) under Kings George I-IV and William IV. It was a daunting task with a strong emphasis on ruling two states at the same time. Yet these individuals were only the last British monarchs in a long series of rulers to preside over multiple states simultaneously. Indeed, for a while it was vogue for monarchs to try and collect states, as it were, in order to expand their empire. Some they would fold into their own "mother" state while others would remain under outside control.


England's Bouts of Duality
Let's start this little survey with a look at what Britain has controlled off-and-on throughout its existence. I've already mentioned two so let's chalk them up:

William III, King of England
& Stadtholder of the Netherlands

• The Kingdoms of England, Scotland & Ireland, et al. with The United Provinces of the Netherlands (1689 – 1702)
• Ruler: King William III who was also Stadtholder of the Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders & Overijssel (most of the Netherlands)
• The Dutch Estates General ruled the Netherlands in his stead
• The English Privy Council ruled Britain in his stead
• How'd it start: William III conquered England (sort of) and deposed his father-in-law, thereby taking the crown. He was already stadtholder at the time.
• Fate: Died leaving England in the hands of his sister-in-law Anne and Netherlands in the hands of nobody in particular

• The Kingdom of Great Britain & Ireland, et al. with The Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg and Electorate of Brunswick (1714 – 1803, 1813 – 1832)
• Rulers: Kings George I, George II, George III, George IV, and William IV who were also hereditary rulers of the region immediately around Hanover in Germany
• The English Privy Council, the Queen, and/or the Prince of Wales ruled Britain in their stead
• The Hanoverian Regency and/or the Prince of Wales ruled Hanover in their stead
• Communication was via a special agency unaffiliated with the British government
• How'd it start: To avoid another Catholic monarch, the British monarchy went to their 52nd choice in the line of succession: an elderly granddaughter of James I. She died and her German son inherited Britain.
• The Kingdom of Great Britain & Ireland became the United Kingdom in 1801
• The Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg became the Kingdom of Hanover in 1814
• Fate: Separate succession laws left Britain in the hands of Queen Victoria and Hanover in the hands of King Ernest Augustus



Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg. Note: Bremen, Verden, Osnabrück, and
Lauenburg were also all dynastic unions. Brunswick -Wolfenbüttel was
a separate possession of a younger branch of the House of Este-Welf.

These are rather late additions, so let's step back into time and see what other dynastic unions existed. Two have already been implied though not mentioned:

• The Kingdom of England with The Kingdom of Ireland (1542 – 1651, 1659 – 1801)
• Rulers: All English monarchs from Henry VIII onwards until 1801
• The Lord Lieutenant of Ireland ruled in their stead
• How'd it start: The Kingdom of Ireland replaced the semi-sovereign and often autonomous Lordship of Ireland which was also presided over by the Lord Lieutenant. Ireland had been partially conquered by Normans in the 12th century and Henry VIII finished the job...mostly.
• Fate: Ireland had little independence in the union and Great Britain and Ireland finally formed a constitutional union in 1801

The Royal Standard of the United Kingdom
(Note: First and Fourth quarters represent England, the
second represents Scotland, and the third Ireland.)

• The Kingdoms of England & Ireland with The Kingdom of Scotland (1603 – 1651, 1660 – 1707)
• Rulers: All English monarchs from James I onwards until 1707
• The Scottish Parliament and Privy Council ruled in their stead
• How'd it start: Elizabeth I died leaving three possible heirs: the most senior—the Scottish king—or one of two squabbling heiresses who broke the queen's rules. She went with the Scotsman.
• Fate: Scotland attempted to end the union but failed and were forced to enter into a constitutional union in 1707

There are dozens of other unions England had with other states throughout its medieval history. Most of these territories were in France. While England very briefly claimed true control over the French throne in the 15th century, I will gloss over that to focus on two other historically more important territories that England once controlled:

Map of France in 1154. Normandy is the pink bit in
the north. Aquitaine is the large peach part in the
middle and south. Note: Brittany (orange on left)
and Anjou (center red) were also dynastic unions.

• The Kingdom of England with The Duchy of Normandy (1066 – 1087, 1106 – 1144, 1150 – 1204 [– Present])
• Rulers: William I, Henry I, Stephen, Henry II, Richard I and John
• A regent and/or Lord Lieutenant ruled Normandy in their stead
• How'd it start: William I of Normandy invaded England and killed his predecessor, Harold II, and deposed the upstart, Edgar II.
• Fate: Conflict with France over sovereignty in Normandy resulted in the French confiscation of Normandy in 1204.
• Today: The Channel Islands, primarily Guernsey and Jersey, remain Crown Dependencies under the name "Duchy of Normandy" and are the last remnant of the once-great duchy. These islands are not a part of the United Kingdom though are administered by it. The Lieutenant Governor of each set of islands rules in the monarch's stead.

• The Kingdom of England with The Duchy of Aquitaine ([1152] 1204 – 1362)
• Rulers: Technically, Eleanor of Aquitaine ruled until 1204, but her husband, Henry II, and sons, Richard I and John, both ruled in her stead many times. Henry III, Edward I, Edward II, and Edward III also ruled.
• A Regent ruled in their stead.
• How'd it start: Henry II married the Aquaitaine duchess, Eleanor, and took her lands for his own.
• Fate: The French got fed up with England not respecting them, so reclaimed their fief. England countered by claiming the French crown. So began the Hundred Years' War. Neither side really could claim the title after that.

Finally, just as a fun aside, the British monarch is still technically in one last dynastic union (not counting the Commonwealth countries) with a tiny little island sitting in the Irish Sea:

The Kingdom of Mann was
once much larger and included
the Western Isles of Scotland

• The Kingdom of England with The Lordship of Mann (1765 – Present)
• Rulers: Every British monarch since George III
• A Lieutenant Governor rules in their stead
• How'd it start: In 1399, Henry IV conquered the Kingdom of Mann from its hereditary ruler. It had previously alternated between Norwegian, Scottish, and English control for centuries. It fell into the Stanley family and, in 1504, they renounced the title "King" in favor of "Lord". In 1765, the Baroness Strange sold the title back to the English crown.
• Fate: Today, the monarch of the United Kingdom is also, separately, the Lord of Mann. It is administered separately as with the Channel Islands (see Duchy of Normandy).

More Problems than an Oversized Chin

The Habsburgs of Austria had their own divided monarchy that, at times, remained divided for long periods of time, but every once in a while, they would recombined to become truly behemoth political entities that would span the breath of Europe. Three long-term unions and one amazingly brief union created a Habsburg empire that still boggles modern minds.

• The Archduchy of Austria with The Kingdoms of Bohemia & Hungary (1438 – 1918)
• Rulers: Various Habsburg monarchs until 1918
• The Habsburg monarchs ruled Bohemia through various means, but rarely directly
• How'd it start: Albert married the daughter of the previous king of both Bohemia and Hungary. He was crowned king of Hungary in 1438 and Bohemia six months later, but never ruled in the latter. The Habsburgs did not firmly establish themselves in either until 1526.
• Fate: Hungary remained a part of Austria-Hungary until 1918 and the monarchy was officially ended on 1921. Bohemia was incorporated into the Austrian Empire in 1806 and became crown land in 1867. It later became half of Czechoslovakia after World War I.

Map of the Ethnic Composition of Austria-Hungary in 1910. Note: Only Austria, Hungary and Bohemia were legal
dynastic unions. Bosnia, Croatia, Dalmatia, Transylvania, Galicia, and Moravia were all artificial monarchies.

Map of the Iberian Peninsula, 1570. Note: Galicia (top left),
Aragon (top right), and Cordoba (bottom center) were all
in dynastic unions with Castile (Spain) during this period.

• The Kingdom of Spain with The Kingdom of Portugal (1560 – 1640)
• Rulers: Philip II of Spain, Philip III and Philip IV
• A Viceroy of Portugal ruled in their stead
• How'd it start: The last obvious heir to the Portuguese throne died leaving it vacant with the Spanish monarch, Philip II, in a prime dynastic, political, and military position to claim it.
• Fate: Fed up with Spanish domination of politics and an obvious loss of their overseas empire, Portuguese revolutionaries deposed Philip IV and installed a native king.

A Map of the Burgundian Inheritance. The lands
dynastically unified to Spain in the Low Countries
were vast and spanned seven modern countries.

• The Kingdom of Spain with The Duchy of Burgundy (1516 – 1555)
• Ruler: Charles I of Spain, also known as Holy Roman Emperor Charles V
• Many different methods were used to rule his empire
• How'd it start: First off, this dynastic union appears very mediocre for all the hype, so let's explain. The Kingdom of Spain at this time did not just include what we think of today as Spain. It also included all of Italy south of Rome and Sicily. He inherited all of this from his mom, though technically she was still alive until 1555. Next, Burgundy refers to a large area that today includes Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg and parts of Germany and France. It was on par in side to Portugal but with much more valuable land. He inherited this lot from his dad, Philip the Handsome, in 1506. In addition, Charles was also an Archduke of Austria, was elected Holy Roman Emperor (which technically means he was King of Italy and Germany), and he also ruled over all the new Spanish possessions overseas. So in literal size, his empire was quite large for a European monarch.
• Fate: Inevitably, he tired of ruling such a large empire. He actually abdicated two years before his death. Spain, Italy, and Burgundy he left to his son, Philip II. The Holy Roman Empire he left to his brother, Ferdinand I.

Danes Among Us

Denmark has led a long history of dual monarchy. Stationed on the small peninsula that divides the North Sea from the Baltic Sea, it is in prime position to claim both the fjords of Norway and Sweden and the flats of Germany. And claim them it did, though not without significant resistance. Two long dynastic unions proved that a small country could still play it large.

• The Kingdom of Denmark with The Kingdoms of Sweden & Norway (1397 – 1523)
• Rulers: Margaret, Erik, Christopher III, Christian I, John and Christian II
• Sweden and Norway maintained regencies in their stead (and sometimes against them)
• How'd it start: Queen Margaret I of Denmark married King Haakon VI of Norway and their son, Olaf III, became king of both in 1380. In 1389, Margaret united Sweden to Denmark and in 1396, Erik of Pomerania was elected the first king of all three realms. The union was formalized the next year via the Treaty of Kalmar.
• Fate: Almost immediately, the Swedes came into conflict with the Danes over Danish wars in northern Germany. Sweden elected an anti-king, Charles VIII, who was deposed and restored numerous times. Eventually Sweden would elect Gustav Vasa as king and secede from the union permanently, only to become involved in their own German wars.

The Kalmar Union. Note: Lower Finland was a dependency of Sweden while
Greenland, Iceland, the Faroe Islands, the Shetland Islands, and the Orkneys
were dependencies of Norway. Schleswig-Holstein in Germany was in a
dynastic union with Denmark throughout this time.

• The Kingdom of Denmark with The Kingdom of Norway (1536 – 1816)
• Rulers: All kings of Denmark until 1816
• Norway maintained a regency in their stead
• How'd it start: With the fall of the Kalmar Union (see above), Denmark retained Norway, though not without a fight. Denmark's dynastic claim over Norway was stronger, and Norway was unable to resist Danish domination to the same degree as Sweden.
• Fate: Norway was traded to Sweden following the Napoleonic Wars and, after a brief war between Norway and Sweden, the two countries entered into their own dynastic union that lasted until 1905, when Norway finally became an sovereign kingdom once more.

Poling your Weight Around

Poland, too, was the senior partner in a long dynastic union. While Poland jumped in and out of other unions throughout its history, it's union with one partner withstood the test of time.

The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, 1618. The sheer size of this dynastic
union is unbelievable. Livonia (gray), Courland (greenish), and Prussia (peach)
were vassal states of Poland-Lithuania but not in dynastic union with it.

• The Kingdom of Poland with The Grand Duchy of Lithuania (1382 – 1795)
• Rulers: All kings of Poland until the dissolution of the monarchy in 1795
• It is unknown how these monarchs ruled both realms
• How'd it start: Grand Duke Ladislas II of Lithuania married "King" Hedwig of Poland. When she died, Ladislas became ruler of both. 
• Fate: Sigismund II constitutionally unified the two lands in 1572, though both retained autonomy. The monarchy became elective after that date, though it stayed in the Vasa family of Sweden for many generations. The entire monarchy fell apart in the French Revolutionary Wars and its fractions were given to Russia, Prussia and Austria.

Conclusion

Almost every monarchic state in Europe at one time or another controlled another state. France was often the largest player, but its attachments were almost always geographically close to France and also geographically smaller. Spain ruled vast lands around the Mediterranean for many years, including much of southern Italy. Sweden and Denmark both had their hands on significant lands in Northern Germany for awhile. In the end, most dynastic unions have to come to an end. The junior partner either joins the senior partner in a constitutional union or the two separate permanently. Today, quasi-states such as Mann and the Channel Islands are exceptions rather than the rule.

Attempts to force dynastic unions, such as that of the Austrian Netherlands (Belgium) and United Provinces (Netherlands) after the Napoleonic Wars, generally fail. The Prussian and Sardinian technique of blatant conquest and monarchic overthrow, such as in the unifications of Germany and Italy, seem to work better. The other technique, largely used by France and Spain, of slowly marrying into title-holding families and inheriting the titles also works better.

Nonetheless, throughout history most monarchies have experienced periods of dynastic union and it is an interesting, albeit often overlooked, aspect of nation-building that I find absolutely riveting.