Editing History of Denmark (section)

=== Count rule ===
[[File:Danmarks kongeløse tid.png|thumb|left|upright=1.0|The kingless time 1332–1340. [[Danish Estonia]] not shown on the map was [[Protectorate|under the protection]] of the [[Livonian Order]].]]
During the disastrous reign of [[Christopher II of Denmark|Christopher II]] (1319–1332), most of the country was seized by the provincial counts (except Skåne, which was taken over by Sweden) after numerous peasant revolts and conflicts with the Church. For eight years after Christopher's death, Denmark had no king, and was instead controlled by the counts. After one of them, [[Gerhard III of Holstein-Rendsburg]], was assassinated in 1340, Christopher's son [[Valdemar IV of Denmark|Valdemar]] was chosen as king, and gradually began to recover the territories, which was finally completed in 1360.

The [[Black Death in Denmark]], which came to Denmark during these years, also aided Valdemar's campaign. His continued efforts to expand the kingdom after 1360 brought him into open conflict with the Hanseatic League. He conquered [[Gotland]], much to the displeasure of the League, which lost [[Visby]], an important trading town located there.

The Hanseatic alliance with Sweden to attack Denmark initially proved a fiasco since Danish forces captured a large Hanseatic fleet, and ransomed it back for an enormous sum. Luckily for the League, the Jutland nobles revolted against the heavy taxes levied to fight the expansionist war in the Baltic; the two forces worked against the king, forcing him into exile in 1370. For several years, the Hanseatic League controlled the fortresses on [[Öresund|the Sound]], the strait between Skåne and Zealand.