The Danish diet, suspended, disappears for a couple of centuries.

During this time power becomes increasingly centralized in Copenhagen.

Frederick IV's government has reorganized itself in a much more hierarchical manner, built around the king as a focal point of administration.

Crown officials dominate the administration, as well as a new group of bureaucrats, much to the dismay of the traditional aristocracy, who see their own influence curtailed even further.

The absolutist kings of Denmark are quite weak compared to their Swedish counterparts, and non-noble landlords become the real rulers of the country.

They use their influence to pass laws that favor themselves.

The administration and laws undergo "modernization" during this period.

In 1683 the Danske lov 1683 (Danish Code) standardizes and collects all the old provincial laws.

Other initiatives include the standardization of all weights and measures throughout the kingdom, and an agricultural survey and registry.

This survey allows the government to begin taxing landowners directly, moving it beyond dependence on revenue from crown lands.

Northeast Europe (1696–1707 CE): The Outbreak of the Great Northern War and Shifting Regional Alliances

Between 1696 and 1707 CE, Northeast Europe entered a transformative era defined by the outbreak of the Great Northern War, significant territorial conflicts, and shifting regional alliances. Sweden, Denmark–Norway, Muscovy (soon to become the Russian Empire), the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, and Prussia became deeply entangled in a series of complex military confrontations and diplomatic realignments, reshaping the region’s geopolitical landscape.

Prelude and Outbreak of the Great Northern War

Following the death of Charles XI of Sweden in 1697, his fifteen-year-old son, Charles XII, ascended the throne. Perceiving Sweden’s youthfully governed monarchy as vulnerable, a coalition comprising Denmark–Norway, Muscovy, and Poland–Lithuania formed in 1699–1700, aiming to diminish Swedish dominance and reclaim previously lost Baltic territories. This coalition triggered the onset of the Great Northern War in 1700, marking a pivotal shift in the regional balance of power.

Early Swedish Military Successes and Strategic Decisions

Despite his youth, Charles XII of Sweden swiftly demonstrated military brilliance. In 1700, Swedish forces decisively defeated Russian troops at the Battle of Narva, severely devastating the Russian army. The extent of Russia’s losses provided Sweden with a clear and open opportunity to pursue a full invasion of Russia. However, Charles XII opted not to immediately pursue the retreating Russian forces, instead turning his attention toward the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. In 1702, Swedish forces defeated King Augustus II the Strong and his Saxon allies at the Battle of Klissow, weakening Poland–Lithuania but inadvertently allowing Russia valuable time to rebuild and modernize its army.

Russian Military Reforms and Territorial Ambitions

Capitalizing on this critical respite, Tsar Peter I ("Peter the Great") embarked upon ambitious reforms aimed at modernizing Russia’s military, administrative, and industrial capacities. Peter established Saint Petersburg in 1703, near newly captured Swedish territory along the Baltic Sea, creating a strategic port city emblematic of Russia’s Baltic aspirations and laying groundwork for sustained Russian presence in Northeast Europe.

Internal Turmoil in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth

Under Augustus II, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth faced significant internal political instability exacerbated by factional rivalries and the ongoing military campaigns. Augustus’s involvement in the anti-Swedish coalition embroiled the Commonwealth deeply in the Great Northern War, resulting in prolonged internal discord, territorial devastation, and weakening of its geopolitical influence.

Danish–Norwegian Strategic Maneuvering

Despite early setbacks, Frederick IV of Denmark–Norway maintained active diplomatic and military engagements aimed at counterbalancing Sweden’s influence. Strategic efforts to regain lost territories and safeguard critical maritime routes intensified Danish–Swedish rivalry, significantly shaping ongoing regional conflicts and diplomatic alignments.

Prussian Diplomatic Caution and Economic Strength

The Kingdom of Prussia, established in 1701 under Frederick I, maintained cautious neutrality amid escalating regional conflict. Prussia continued consolidating internal governance, military strength, and economic prosperity, notably in Königsberg and surrounding territories, allowing it to navigate regional turmoil with relative stability.

Economic Resilience in Urban Centers

Despite widespread warfare, major urban centers such as Reval (Tallinn), Riga, Königsberg, and Visby demonstrated remarkable economic resilience. Maritime commerce and vibrant merchant networks maintained economic continuity, significantly mitigating disruptions from the protracted conflict.

Cultural and Intellectual Continuity

Cultural and educational institutions, including prominent Protestant academies and Lutheran universities, persisted despite wartime challenges. Regional scholars continued contributions to intellectual pursuits, maintaining Northeast Europe’s cultural and educational legacy amid considerable military upheaval.

Diplomatic Complexity and Shifting Alliances

Diplomatic interactions intensified as regional powers navigated shifting alliances and strategic negotiations throughout the Great Northern War. Sweden’s early decision to target Poland–Lithuania rather than Russia significantly altered regional strategic considerations, prompting complex diplomatic maneuvering by Denmark–Norway, Russia, Poland–Lithuania, and Prussia to adapt to changing military and political realities.

Legacy of the Era

The era from 1696 to 1707 CE proved pivotal, significantly reshaping Northeast Europe’s geopolitical trajectory. Charles XII’s strategic choice to focus on Poland–Lithuania after the decisive victory at Narva granted Russia critical time to rebuild and modernize its forces—fundamentally altering the balance of power. These decisions and resulting shifts laid critical foundations for Russia's subsequent emergence as a major European power and permanently influenced regional territorial alignments and diplomatic relationships.

Northwest Europe (1696–1707): Dynastic Consolidation, Maritime Rivalries, and Economic Transitions

Centralization and Power in Denmark-Norway

The Danish-Norwegian monarchy under King Frederick IV continued the evolution toward centralized administration initiated by previous rulers. After decades of intermittent function, the Danish diet—an assembly representing Danish nobility, clergy, and urban bourgeoisie—was effectively suspended and faded from political relevance for nearly two centuries. Power was increasingly consolidated in Copenhagen, where Frederick IV’s administration adopted a more hierarchical structure with the king serving as the focal point of governance. This bureaucratic reshaping streamlined administration but also concentrated power, strengthening royal authority and weakening traditional aristocratic checks on monarchy.

England: Maritime Supremacy and Economic Deregulation

England’s maritime power continued to expand following the Battle of Solebay (1672), consolidating naval supremacy over Dutch rivals. The wealth generated by overseas trade, especially from India, enriched merchants and officials associated with the East India Company. Officers and former employees returned home with considerable fortunes, establishing extensive estates, lucrative businesses, and gaining significant political influence.

The East India Company's growing economic and political clout nurtured a powerful lobby within the English Parliament, which increasingly debated the monopolistic privileges enjoyed by the company. Pressure from ambitious merchants and entrepreneurs—dubbed Interlopers by company advocates—culminated in a critical deregulating act passed in 1694, effectively annulling the nearly century-old monopoly. By 1696, this legislative change allowed any English firm not explicitly prohibited by Parliament to engage in trade with India, marking a significant economic shift that intensified commercial competition and profoundly altered English trade dynamics in Asia.

Further complicating the trade landscape, Parliament established a new "parallel" entity in 1698, officially titled the English Company Trading to the East Indies. This new enterprise was floated under a substantial state-backed indemnity of £2 million. However, powerful stockholders from the old East India Company rapidly subscribed to the new entity, investing £315,000, quickly positioning themselves to dominate both companies. As a result, the two rival companies wrestled fiercely with one another for a dominant share of trade, both domestically and within their Indian spheres of influence. This struggle exacerbated competition and tension, reflecting England’s broader transformation from monopolistic privilege toward open but contentious commercial rivalry.

Scotland: Economic Strain and the Darien Disaster

During this era, Scotland undertook an ambitious but ultimately disastrous attempt to establish a colony in Panama—the infamous Darien Scheme (1698–1700). Intended to open a profitable trade route between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, the scheme consumed vast amounts of Scottish capital. Poorly planned, inadequately provisioned, and undermined by tropical diseases and Spanish hostility, the colony collapsed spectacularly, wiping out substantial national wealth. The economic catastrophe resulting from Darien significantly intensified pressures leading toward the eventual union of Scotland and England.

Maritime Commerce and Rivalries

Maritime rivalries shaped the era. Following the loss of its dominance in North Sea trade, the Dutch Republic began losing ground to England’s burgeoning naval supremacy. Although Amsterdam remained an important center of trade, London increasingly emerged as the leading global financial and maritime hub, facilitating the British Isles’ ascent as a principal European economic power.

Cultural and Intellectual Developments

The era also witnessed cultural and intellectual advances, notably in England and Denmark. The scientific culture exemplified by the Royal Society continued to encourage empirical inquiry. Notable intellectuals such as Isaac Newton, who became Master of the Royal Mint in 1699, embodied the fusion of scientific inquiry and statecraft. In Denmark, Frederick IV encouraged intellectual and cultural patronage as part of his broader effort to modernize and centralize governance.

Ireland: Continued Repression and Economic Stagnation

In Ireland, the aftermath of the Williamite War (1688–1691) entrenched a harsh Protestant ascendancy, disenfranchising the Catholic majority through punitive legislation known as the Penal Laws. Economic stagnation deepened as these restrictive policies hindered trade and manufacturing, significantly curtailing the island’s economic potential during this period.

Iceland and North Atlantic Islands: Subsistence and Isolation

Farther northwest, Iceland and the North Atlantic islands (including the Faroes, Shetland, and Orkney) continued to endure relative isolation. Economically peripheral and politically marginal, their economies relied largely on subsistence agriculture, fishing, and sheep-herding. Danish authority remained nominal yet distant, with limited direct intervention, though administrative centralization in Copenhagen hinted at future efforts to integrate these remote territories more firmly into the kingdom.

---

The era 1696–1707 thus marked significant transitions across Northwest Europe. From intensified maritime rivalry and economic deregulation in England—highlighted by the fierce competition between the two East India Companies—to centralization in Denmark-Norway, economic devastation in Scotland, continued repression in Ireland, and isolation in Iceland and adjacent islands, these developments collectively shaped a region moving toward more centralized political structures, economic competition, and increasingly interconnected global commerce.

Christian V of Denmark had introduced the land register of 1688, an attempt to work out the land value of the united monarchy in order to create a more just taxation.

Science has witnessed a golden age in Denmark during his reign due to the work of the astronomer Ole Rømer, in spite of the king’s personal lack of scientific knowledge and interest.

Like his late contemporary Charles XI of Sweden, who had never been outside Sweden, Christian V speaks German and Danish only and is therefore often considered poorly educated due to his inability to communicate with visiting foreign diplomats.

Contemporary sources also often consider Christian V dependent on his councilors , a notion the Danish monarch has done nothing to dispel.

In his memoirs, he listes "hunting, love-making, war and maritime affairs" as his main interests in life. (Nielsen, Kay Søren (1999). Christian V – Konge og sportsmand. The Royal Danish Arsenal Museum, Net Publications, 1999.)

He dies on August 25 of complications caused by a hunting accident and is interred in Roskilde Cathedral.

His oldest son succeeds him as Frederick IV.

The secret Treaty of Preobrazhenskoye (or the Treaty of Preobrazhenskoe), negotiated by Johann Patkul, is signed in Preobrazhenskoye, a favored residence of Peter the Great, on November 22, 1699.

The treaty, which calls for the partition of the Swedish Empire among Denmark, Russia, Saxony and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, is a prelude the Great Northern War that is to begin in 1700.

The adventurer Johann Patkul was born in prison at Stockholm, where his father had been incarcerated under suspicion of treason.

He had entered the Swedish army at an early age and was already a captain when, in 1689, at the head of a deputation of Livonian gentry, he went to Stockholm to protest against the rigor with which the land-recovery project of Charles XI of Sweden was being carried out in his native province.

His eloquence had impressed Charles XI, but his representations were disregarded.

When he submitted another petition in more offensive language to the king three years later, his renewed complaints had involved him in a government prosecution.

To save himself from the penalties of high treason, Patkul had fled from Stockholm to Switzerland, and was condemned in absentia to lose his right hand and his head.

His estates were at the same time confiscated.

For the next four years, Patkul had led a vagabond life, but in 1698, after vainly petitioning the new king, Charles XII of Sweden, for pardon, he had entered the service of Augustus the Strong of Saxony and Poland, with the deliberate intention of wresting Livonia from Sweden, to which he has now no hope of returning so long as that province belongs to the Swedish Crown.

The aristocratic republic of Poland is obviously the most convenient suzerain for a Livonian nobleman; so in 1698, Patkul had proceeded to the court of the king-elector at Dresden and bombarded Augustus with proposals for the partition of Sweden.

His first plan was a combination against her of Saxony, Denmark and Brandenburg; but, Brandenburg failing him, he had been obliged very unwillingly to admit Russia into the partnership.

Augustus had met informally with Tsar Peter at Rava (Rawa, Rava-Ruska, Rava-Ruskaya) in August 1698.

Under the plan, the tsar is to be content with Ingria and Estonia while Augustus is to take Livonia, nominally as a fief of Poland, but really as a hereditary possession of the Saxon house.

Military operations against Sweden’s Baltic provinces are to be begun simultaneously by the Saxons and Russians.

After thus forging the first link of the partition treaty, Patkul had proceeded to Moscow, and, at a secret conference held at Preobrazhenskoye (now a part of Moscow), had easily persuadedPeter the Great to accede to the league on November 18, 1699.

The Great Northern War begins on February 12, 1700, with a joint invasion of Swedish territory in Germany and Latvia by Denmark and Poland/Saxony.

Sweden has control of the Baltic Sea and holds territory that includes Finland, Estonia, Latvia and parts of northern Germany.

To challenge its power, an alliance has been formed between Tsar Peter I of Russia, King Frederick IV of Denmark–Norway and Augustus II the Strong, King of Poland and Elector of Saxony.

Sweden's ruler is the militaristic Charles XII, soon to be known as the "Swedish Meteor".

Frederik IV directs his first attack against Sweden's ally Holstein-Gottorp.

Danish forces in 1697 had leveled several of Gottorp's fortresses.

August II's forces advance through Swedish Livonia, capture Dünamünde and ...

...lay siege to Riga.

Earlier attempts to storm the fortified city had been made in December 1699.

A Danish army lays siege to Tönning in March 1700.

...Charles XII of Sweden, in the opening phase of the Great Northern War, first focuses on attacking Denmark by invading Zealand, assisted by an Anglo-Dutch naval squadron under Sir George Rooke.

The Swedish navy under Admiral General Hans Wachtmeister is able to outmaneuver the Danish Sound blockade, facilitating Charles’s landing of an army near the Danish capital, Copenhagen.

This surprise move and pressure by the Maritime Powers (England and the Dutch Republic) rapidly compels Denmark–Norway to withdraw from the war according to the terms of the Peace of Travendal concluded on August 8 between the Swedish Empire, Denmark-Norway and Holstein-Gottorp in Traventhal.

Augustus II, King of Poland, and Peter the Great, Tsar of Russia, enter the war against Sweden on the same day.