The bastions of Christian 4th
Channel: Recording Archaeology
Date: 2017-01-25

Christian 4th is considered one of the most influential Danish kings. From 1596-1648 he ruled the kingdom Denmark-Norway, which included the southern part of Sweden and the islands of Gotland and Saaremaa. This gave Christian 4th control of the waterways to the Baltic Sea and a huge profit on the Sound toll – an important factor for the king in fighting for the Baltic Sea dominion and engaging the country in several wars.
Christian 4th made great effort to modernize the fortifications of the realm introducing the bastioned fortification on a big scale. He built more than 30 fortresses and fortified towns within today’s Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Germany and Estonia. This paper wants to look into what concerns influenced the king’s strategy of building fortifications which had a strong focus on the Baltic region. Was the king demonstrating a general plan for the safety of the realm or was he reacting to sudden and changing threats? Many plans were made for building new fortifications and renovating old ones. Why were the plans carried out in some places but changed or given up in others? Were finances, incompetence, enemy threats or international politics responsible for the fate of the fortifications?

Author - MA Simonsen, Rikke, Copenhagen Museum, Copenhagen V, Denmark (Presenting author)