In Norway, where the king had lately established a standing army, this war had been conducted with some success. It was named the Hannibal's Feud, after the viceroy, Hannibal Sehested, who, with the assistance of the brave warrior, the clergyman in Ullensaker, Kield Stub, not only kept the enemy out of Norway, but also collected heavy tributes from the nearest Swedish provinces. After peace had been concluded, Kield Stub returned to his pastorate, which he managed to his death, in 1663.
Christian IV. did a great deal to promote the industries and commerce of Norway. The Hanseatic office in Bergen was held in check, and Norwegian trading enterprises were encouraged. The mining industry, which had heretofore been neglected, became quite active. When silver had been discovered in Sandsvaer, in 1623, he founded the mining-town of Kongsberg. He also established the copper-works at Röros, where copper was accidentally discovered by the peasant, Hans Aasen, in 1640. Oslo having been destroyed by fire, King Christian requested the inhabitants to move across the bay, closer to the fortress of Akershus, where he laid out the new town, the present capital of Christiania (1624). At the mouth of the Otter River he founded the town of Christianssand (1643), which afterward became the seat of the bishop instead of Stavanger.
King Christian was very often in Norway. The last time was during the year following the Peace of Bromsebro. After a pleasant sojourn of seven weeks he returned to Denmark, where, shortly afterward, he died (February 28, 1648), in the seventy-first year of his life.
Christian IV. was first married to Anna Katherina of Brandenburg, who died in 1612. In 1615 he entered into a morganatic marriage with Kristine Munk, a lady of noble family, to whom he gave the title of Countess of Schleswig-Holstein, and with whom he lived happily many years. They had several children, among whom was the highly gifted Eleonora Kristine, who was married to the Danish nobleman, Corfitz Ulfeld, and who, with her ambitious husband, exerted a great influence over the king during the latter years of his life.
_Frederick III. (1648-1670)--Absolutism Introduced (1660)_
After the death of Christian IV. some months elapsed before the Council of State would agree to elect his son, Frederick III., to the throne. He was finally elected toward the end of the year 1648, after having given the nobility still greater power, by signing a more humiliating charter than any king had yet granted; but it also became the last one. The conditions were such that he could not exercise any of the powers of a king without the consent of the council.