Haandfæstning

A Haandfæstning (Modern Danish: Håndfæstning & Modern Norwegian: Håndfestning, lit. "Handbinding", plural Haandfæstninger) was a document issued by the kings of Denmark from 13th to the 17th century, preceding and during the realm's personal union with the kingdoms of Sweden and Norway. Following Sweden's independence, similar documents were also issued by its kings. In many ways it is a Scandinavian parallel to the English Magna Carta.

For the Northern European practice also adopted in neo-pagan culture, see Handfasting (Neopaganism).

History

The haandfæstning was the result of the strength of the power of the nobility. The first Danish king who was forced to sign this kind of charter was King Eric V in 1282. It was used as a regular coronation charter for the first time in 1320. Between 1440 and 1648 it was a normal condition for the recognition of a new king. When absolute monarchy was introduced in 1660 the last haandfæstning was mortified.

Unlike in England there was no permanent charter to sign; every new king had to accept a new one that applied to his own reign. On the other hand, all haandfæstninger were based on the same model. The king had to promise that he would rule as a just king; that he would co-operate with the nobility; that he would never imprison any free man; that all leading offices (what one would today call "cabinet minister posts") and all local administration would be filled only by noblemen; and that questions of war and peace depended on the acceptance of the nobility.

The charters did not necessarily transform the kings into puppets; most of them were able to create a solid base of power during their reign. And hardly any Danish king of the period totally kept the rules of the håndfæstning. The severity of the demands of the nobility also wavered from time to time.

End of the era

Absolutism was underpinned by a written constitution for the first time in Europe in 1665 Kongeloven ("King's Law") of Denmark-Norway, which ordered that the Monarch "shall from this day forth be revered and considered the most perfect and supreme person on the Earth by all his subjects, standing above all human laws and having no judge above his person, neither in spiritual nor temporal matters, except God alone".[1][2] This law consequently authorized the king to abolish all other centers of power. Most important was the abolition of the Council of the Realm.

Legacy

Some modern historians have regarded the haandfæstninger as (primitive) predecessors of the modern constitutions. This might be true as for the limitations of the royal power but it would not be fair to call them real democratic constitutions. First of all their purpose seems to have been to secure the power of the nobility and they expressly tried to keep commoners and other people of "low birth" away from any kind of political influence. Unlike their English parallel they therefore do not seem to have inspired any kind of modern Danish constitutional theory.

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References
  1. "Kongeloven af 1665" (in Danish). Danske konger. Archived from the original on 2012-03-30.
  2. A partial English translation of the law can be found in Ernst Ekman, "The Danish Royal Law of 1665" pp. 102-107 in: The Journal of Modern History, 1957, vol. 2.

Sources
  • Samling af danske Kongers Haandfæstninger og andre lignende Acter. Af Geheimearchivets Aarsberetninger. Copenhagen, 1856–58, reprint 1974. (Source collection of handbindings in Danish and Latin)
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