Haandfæstning

For the Northern European practice also adopted inneo-paganculture, seeHandfasting.

AHaandfæstning(ModernDanish:Håndfæstning&ModernNorwegian:Håndfestning,lit."Handbinding", pluralHaandfæstninger) was a document issued by thekings of Denmarkfrom 13th to the 17th century, preceding and during the realm'spersonal unionwith the kingdoms ofSwedenandNorway.FollowingSweden's independence,similar documents were also issued byits kings.In many ways it is a Scandinavian parallel to the EnglishMagna Carta.

History

The haandfæstning was the result of the strength of the power of thenobility.The first Danish king who was forced to sign this kind of charter was KingEric Vin 1282. It was used as a regularcoronation charterfor the first time in 1320. Between 1440 and 1648 it was a normal condition for the recognition of a new king. Whenabsolute monarchywas introduced in 1660 the last haandfæstning was mortified.

Unlike inEnglandthere 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 alllocal administrationwould 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.

In modernDutch,the word 'handvest' still can mean both 'treaty' and (as aloan translation) 'manifesto'.

End of the era

Absolutism was underpinned by a written constitution for the first time in Europe in 1665Kongeloven ( "King's Law")ofDenmark–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".This law consequently authorized the king to abolish all other centers of power. Most important was the abolition of theCouncil of the Realm.

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)