...King Frederick appoints Tausen as one of his personal chaplains (October 1526) in order to protect him from Catholics.

Tausen's version of Luther's ideas spreads throughout Denmark.

Copenhagen becomes a hotbed of reformist activity and Tausen moves there to continue his work.

His reputation precedes him and the excitement of hearing the liturgy in Danish brings thousands of people out to hear him.

With the kings' permission, churches in Copenhagen open heir doors to the Lutherans and hold services for Catholics and for Lutherans at different times of the day.

At Our Lady Church, the main church of Copenhagen, Bishop Ronnow refuses to admit the "heretics".

In December 1531 a mob storms the Church of Our Lady in Copenhagen, encouraged by Copenhagen's fiery mayor, Ambrosius Bogbinder.

They tear down statues and side-altars and destroy  artwork and reliquaries.

Frederick I's policy of toleration insists that the two competing groups share churches and pulpits peacefully, but this satisfies neither Lutherans nor Catholics.

Luther's ideas spread rapidly as a consequence of a powerful combination of popular enthusiasm for church reform and a royal eagerness to secure greater wealth through the seizure of church lands and property.

In Denmark the reformation increases the crown's revenues by three hundred percent.

Dissatisfaction with the established Catholic Church had already been widespread in Denmark.

Many people view the tithes and fees—a constant source of irritation for farmers and merchants—as unjust.

This becomes apparent once word gets out that King Frederick and his son, Duke Christian, have no sympathy with Franciscans who persistently make the rounds of the parishes to collect food, money, and clothing in addition to the tithes.

Between 1527 and 1536 many towns petition the king to close the Franciscan houses.

Frederick obliges by sending letters authorizing the closure of the monasteries, often offering a small sum of money to help the brothers on their way.

With the royal letter in hand, mobs forcibly close Franciscan abbeys all over Denmark.

They beat up monks, two of whom die.

The closure of Franciscan houses occurs systematically in Copenhagen, Viborg, Aalborg, Randers, Malmö and ten other cities; in all, twenty-eight monasteries or houses close.

People literally hound Franciscan monks out of the towns.

No other order faces such harsh treatment.

Considering how strongly many people feel about removing all traces of Catholic traditions from Danish churches, surprisingly little violence takes place.

Luther's teaching has become so overwhelmingly popular that Danes systematically clear churches of statues, paintings, wall-hangings, reliquaries and other Catholic elements without interference.

The only exceptions come in individual churches where the local churchmen refuse to permit reform.

Northwest Europe (1396–1539 CE): North Sea Commons, Island Kingdoms, and Tudor Beginnings

Geographic & Environmental Context

The subregion of Northwest Europe includes the British–Irish archipelago, Iceland and the Faroes, and the ocean-facing rims of western Norway and western Denmark. Anchors span the North Atlantic fisheries (Iceland, Faroes, Shetland–Orkney), the North Sea littoral (Jutland, Yorkshire–East Anglia, Firths of Forth and Clyde), the Irish Sea and Channel approaches, and inland cores such as the Thames–Severn lowlands, Scottish Highlands/Islands, and Irish midlands. River corridors (Thames, Severn, Humber), firths, and sounds tied agrarian interiors to maritime trade, while the Norwegian fjords and Jutland bights faced wind-heavy seas.

Climate & Environmental Shifts

The Little Ice Age sharpened cold and storminess:

• North Atlantic fringe (Iceland, Faroes, west Norway): longer sea-ice seasons and harsher gales; erratic cod/herring runs shaped fishing booms and busts.

• Britain & Ireland: cooler winters, wet summers in some decades; harvest failures recurred locally; severe storms and surges disrupted coasts.

• Jutland & North Sea: shifting bars and storm surges altered havens; dunes advanced on exposed shores.
  Despite volatility, fisheries and mixed husbandry buffered many communities.

Subsistence & Settlement

• Lowland farms (England, eastern Ireland, Jutland): wheat, rye, barley, oats; cattle, sheep, and dairying; open-field systems persisted in much of England, while enclosed demesnes and pastures spread unevenly.

• Uplands & isles (Scotland, Wales, west Ireland, Norway): oats, barley, stock-rearing, and transhumant dairying; peat fuel; kelp and shore-gathering in island economies.

• Iceland & Faroes: subsistence grain marginal; livelihoods centered on cod, dried fish, seabirds, sheep, and trade with Bergen–Hanse merchants.

• Towns & ports: London (Thames) surged as a staple market; York, Bristol, Dublin, Cork, Edinburgh/Leith, Aberdeen, Bergen, and Aalborg tied hinterlands to sea lanes.

Technology & Material Culture

• Maritime craft: clinker-built hulks and cogs gave way to round-hulled naos and early caravels; North Sea sailing rigs adapted to shoals and tides; Icelandic and Norse open boats remained crucial.

• Arms & fortification: English longbow remained decisive into the mid-15th century; early handguns and field guns appeared; castles evolved toward gun-forts and, in Scotland/Ireland, tower houses.

• Print & craft: William Caxton introduced printing to England (1476); cloth finishing (East Anglia, Yorkshire), tin/lead (Cornwall), and shipwrighting expanded.

• Architecture & art: Perpendicular Gothic in England; late medieval parish art in Ireland; stave-church legacies and stone churches in west Norway; bardic manuscripts in Gaelic lands; saga copying continued in Icelandic scriptoria.

Movement & Interaction Corridors

• North Sea/Irish Sea lanes: carried wool, cloth, salt fish (herring, cod), wine, salt, and iron; London, Hull, and east-coast ports linked to Hanseatic towns and Bergen’s fish market.

• Atlantic ventures: Bristol merchants probed western waters; John Cabot’s voyage (1497) opened English awareness of Newfoundland’s cod banks.

• Fjord & Jutland coasts: Bergen–Hanse convoy cycles and Jutland’s cattle/grain exports sustained Norway–Denmark’s Atlantic rim.

• Isles networks: Birlinn and galley traffic knit Hebrides, Islay, Kintyre, Man, and Ulster; inter-island lordships balanced sea power and kin ties.

Cultural & Symbolic Expressions

• Monarchy & law: English common law courts stabilized after civil war; Scottish kings balanced Highland/Lowland blocs; Gaelic lordships in Ireland maintained Brehon law and bardic patronage alongside the English Pale.

• Language & letters: Middle English matured into Tudor English; Scots literature flourished (Dunbar, Henryson); Gaelic poetry remained courtly and genealogical; Icelandic annals and sagas preserved memory.

• Devotion & reform: Late medieval piety—guild altars, pilgrimages (St. Andrews, Walsingham, St. David’s)—coexisted with early humanism; by the 1530s, England’s break with Rome began to reorder ritual and property.

Environmental Adaptation & Resilience

• Mixed portfolios: grain–livestock rotations, dairying, and woodland management hedged climatic risk; parish granaries and seigneurial stores mitigated famine.

• Fisheries & curing: salt fish, stockfish, and barrelled herring stabilized caloric intake and trade; salt-pan and coopers’ crafts were critical.

• Field systems & enclosure: commons and open fields balanced with piecemeal enclosure to protect flocks and improve yields; drainage in fens and dike work on exposed coasts guarded arable.

• Island adaptations: peat, driftwood, and turf for fuel; drying sheds and fish lofts; seasonal transhumance to shielings.

Technology & Power Shifts (Conflict Dynamics)

• Hundred Years’ War (to 1453): English chevauchées faded after Joan of Arc’s campaigns (1429); defeat at Castillon (1453) ended English rule in France, redirecting power struggles homeward.

• Wars of the Roses (1455–1487): Yorkist–Lancastrian civil war saw set-piece battles—Towton (1461), Tewkesbury (1471)—culminating in Tudor victory at Bosworth Field (1485); Henry VII stabilized crown finances and order.

• Anglo-Scottish warpoints: Border raids persisted; Scotland’s defeat at Flodden (1513) killed James IV, reshaping regency politics.

• Ireland: Tudor authority remained thin beyond the Pale; Gaelic confederacies and earldoms contested royal initiatives; intermittent wars foreshadowed later Tudor conquest.

• Scandinavia: Denmark–Norway ruled the Atlantic rim; Bergen’s Hanse links endured; the Count’s Feud (1534–1536) in Denmark–Norway (closing years of this age) ushered in the Lutheran Reformation and tighter royal control.

• Sea conflict: Privateering and piracy flickered in the Channel and North Sea; naval gunnery began to matter in convoy defense.

Transition

By 1539 CE, Northwest Europe had shifted from external continental wars to internal consolidation and oceanic horizons. England emerged under the Tudors with an embryonic navy and a royal church; Scotland balanced Franco-Scottish ties after Flodden; Ireland’s patchwork lordships and the Pale foreshadowed Tudor campaigns; Denmark–Norway steered the North Atlantic trades toward Lutheran monarchy; Iceland and the Faroes remained fishing outposts within this orbit. Fisheries, wool–cloth trades, and mixed husbandry underwrote resilience in a stormier climate, while printing and court centralization set the stage for later religious and imperial transformations.

Those who had traveled to Wittenberg in Saxony and come under the influence of the teachings of Luther and his associates include Hans Tausen, a Danish monk in the Order of St John Hospitallers.

On Good Friday in 1525, Tausen uses the pulpit at Antvorskov Abbey Church to proclaim Luther's reforms.

His scandalized superiors order him out of Zealand and hold him in the priory at Viborg under close confinement until he should come to his senses.

Townspeople come to see the troublesome monk, and Tausen preaches to them from the window of his cell.

Within days, Tausen's ideas sweep through the town.

The radical ideas of Luther find a receptive audience.

Within months, ...
Tausen's preaching converts ordinary people, merchants, nobles, and monks and even the Prior grows to appreciate Tausen and orders his release.

Tausen preaches openly: much to the consternation of Bishop Jøn Friis, who loses his ability to do anything about the Lutherans and retreats to Hald Castle.

After preaching in the open air, Tausen gains the use of a small chapel, which soon proves too small for the crowds who attend services in Danish.

His followers break open a Franciscan Abbey so they can listen to Tausen, who packs the church daily for services.

The town leaders protects Tausen from the Bishop of Viborg.

Viborg becomes the center for the Danish Reformation for a time.

Lutheranism spreads quickly to Aarhus and Aalborg.