Meet the Middle Ages
BackThe Union Letter
"All three countries shall keep together in unity and love."
The Union Letter, signed on the day of Margareta, July 20, in 1397, described the terms of the Union between Sweden, Norway and Denmark. The countries should stand as one. King Erik ruled for life, and"then, these kingdoms shall forever have the same King, and shall never, by the will of God, part again". The Nordic countries wanted peace; they were tired of all the wars between themselves: "There shall never be war between the three kingdoms in the future". If one of the countries was attacked, "then the other two shall help that country". The letter also stated that although the countries shared the same King, each country should be ruled according to its national laws.
The Union letter is perhaps one of the most argued-about documents in Nordic medieval history. It was written on paper and has only been signed by ten seals, none of them Norwegian. In the letter, it says that the document should be written on parchment; such a document does not exist. Is the letter only a proposal which never was accepted? Was Queen Margareta threatened by the powerful noblemen? Is the letter a sign of this on-going struggle for power? We do not know for sure.
However, there was a Union under King Erik of Pommern. In reality, the Queen ruled.