Magnus of Denmark or Magnus of Holstein ( – ) was a

Prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. Th ...

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

, Duke of Holstein, and a member of the House of Oldenburg. As a vassal of Tsar Ivan IV of Russia, he was the titular King of Livonia from 1570 to 1578.

Early life

Duke Magnus was born at the

Copenhagen Castle Copenhagen Castle ( da, Københavns Slot) was a castle on the islet of Slotsholmen in central Copenhagen, Denmark. It was built in the late 14th century and was located at the site of the current Christiansborg Palace. History In 1167, Bisho ...

in 1540 as the second son of King Christian III of Denmark and Norway and

Dorothea of Saxe-Lauenburg Dorothea of Saxe-Lauenburg (9 July 1511 – 7 October 1571) was queen consort of Denmark and Norway by marriage to King Christian III of Denmark. She was known to having wielded influence upon the affairs of state in Denmark.Jorgensen, Ellen & Sk ...

. At the age of 17 he was sent to Germany to be educated at various German courts. Following the death of his father in 1559, he returned to Denmark for the coronation of his older brother, King

Frederick II of Denmark Frederick II (1 July 1534 – 4 April 1588) was King of Denmark and Norway and Duke of Schleswig and Holstein from 1559 until his death. A member of the House of Oldenburg, Frederick began his personal rule of Denmark-Norway at the age of ...

. The same year, the prince-bishop of Ösel-Wiek and

Courland Courland (; lv, Kurzeme; liv, Kurāmō; German and Scandinavian languages: ''Kurland''; la, Curonia/; russian: Курляндия; Estonian: ''Kuramaa''; lt, Kuršas; pl, Kurlandia) is one of the Historical Latvian Lands in western Latvia. ...

Johannes V von Münchhausen Johannes is a Medieval Latin form of the personal name that usually appears as "John" in English language contexts. It is a variant of the Greek and Classical Latin variants (Ιωάννης, ''Ioannes''), itself derived from the Hebrew name '' Yeh ...

in Old Livonia sold his lands to King Frederick II for 30,000 thalers. To avoid hereditary partition of his lands, King Frederick II gave that territory to his younger brother Magnus on condition that he renounced his rights to succession in the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein. In 1560, Magnus landed with an army on Saaremaa where he was immediately elected bishop by the

cathedral chapter According to both Catholic and Anglican canon law, a cathedral chapter is a college of clerics ( chapter) formed to advise a bishop and, in the case of a vacancy of the episcopal see in some countries, to govern the diocese during the vacancy. In ...

King of Livonia

During the Livonian War, on 10 June 1570, Duke Magnus arrived in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

, where he was crowned King of Livonia by

Ivan IV Ivan IV Vasilyevich (russian: Ива́н Васи́льевич; 25 August 1530 – ), commonly known in English as Ivan the Terrible, was the grand prince of Moscow from 1533 to 1547 and the first Tsar of all Russia from 1547 to 1584. Ivan ...

. Magnus took the oath of allegiance to Ivan as his overlord and received from the corresponding charter for the vassal kingdom of Livonia in what Ivan termed his patrimony. The treaty between Magnus and Ivan IV was signed by an

oprichnik Oprichnik (russian: опри́чник, , ''man aside''; plural ''Oprichniki'') was the designation given to a member of the Oprichnina, a bodyguard corps established by Tsar Ivan the Terrible to govern a division of Russia from 1565 to 1572. Fou ...

and by a member of the zemskii administration, the dyak Vasily Shchelkalov. The territories of the new kingdom still had to be conquered, but even so Põltsamaa Castle was proclaimed the future official residence of the king. The newly crowned king Magnus of Livonia left Moscow with 20,000 Russian soldiers with the intention of conquering Swedish-controlled Reval. Ivan's hope of the support of

, the older brother of Magnus, failed. By the end of March 1571, Magnus gave up the struggle for Reval and abandoned the siege. In 1577, having lost Ivan's favor and receiving no support from his brother, Magnus called on the Livonian nobility to rally to him in a struggle against foreign occupation. He was attacked by Ivan's forces and taken prisoner. On his release, he renounced his royal title. Magnus gave the rights to the throne to the genus of Stephen Báthory. Magnus spent the last six years of his life at the castle of

Pilten Piltene (; pl, Piltyń, german: Pilten) is a town in northwestern Latvia. The population in 2020 was 909. The ruins of Piltene Castle are located in Piltene. Population Population (Year): 40,000 (1795) History *1220: King Valdemar II of Denm ...

in the Bishopric of Courland, where he died as a pensioner of the Polish crown. In 1662, Magnus' body was returned to Denmark and was reburied in the Roskilde Cathedral.

Spouse and issue

On 12 April 1574, he married

Maria Vladimirovna of Staritsa Maria Vladimirovna of StaritsaLines of Succession: Heraldr ...

, daughter of

Vladimir of Staritsa Vladimir Andreyevich (1533 – 9 October 1569) was the last appanage Russian prince. His complicated relationship with his cousin, Ivan the Terrible, was dramatized in Sergei Eisenstein's movie '' Ivan the Terrible''. The only son of Andrey of ...

, Duke of Staritsa. His issue included: *

Marie of Oldenburg Marie may refer to: People Name * Marie (given name) * Marie (Japanese given name) * Marie (murder victim), girl who was killed in Florida after being pushed in front of a moving vehicle in 1973 * Marie (died 1759), an enslaved Cree person in T ...

(c. July 1580 – c. 1597) * Eudoxia of Oldenburg (c. 1581 – c. 1588)

Ancestry

References

External links