tected position, and to seize the principal fortresses of the duchy. Her two brothers-in-law, the Cardinal Maurice, and Prince Thomas, disturbed the peace of the country by their intrigues and plots, invaded Piedmont, and the latter captured Turin and several other important places, while a Spanish army at the same time assailed the duchy. Peace was concluded, however, in 1642 between her and her brothers-in-law. The majority of Charles Emmanuel was proclaimed in 1648, but his mother retained her power until her death in 1663. As a ruler her conduct exhibited ability and firmness, but her private character was not unblemished.—J. T.
CHRISTIANUS, a warlike prelate of the twelfth century, archbishop of Mayence, took an active part in the Italian wars of the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa. He died in 1183.
CHRISTIE, James, a noted antiquarian, followed in London his father's profession of auctioneer. He wrote "An Essay on the ancient Greek game supposed to have been invented by Palamedes" &c., 1802; "A Disquisition upon Etruscan vases," 1806; and "An Essay on the earliest species of Idolatry, the worship of the elements," 1815. He died in 1831.—J. S., G.
CHRISTIE, Thomas, a Scottish writer, was born at Montrose in 1761. He went to London for the purpose of studying medicine, but soon abandoned that profession, and addicting himself to literary pursuits, commenced a publication called the Analytical Review. He visited France in 1789, when he was cordially welcomed by the leaders of the revolutionary party, and wrote a reply to Burke's denunciation of the Jacobins. He died at Surinam in 1796, leaving "Miscellanies, Philosophical, Medical, and Moral," published in 1789.—J. T.
CHRISTIERN I. (Christian), the founder of the house of Oldenburg, which still reigns in Denmark, was born in 1425 or 1426. He was the second son of Theodoric, count of Oldenburg, and was elected king of Denmark on the death of Christopher III. of Bavaria, the last of the Waldemars, in 1448. Christiern expected that the treaty of Colmar, which was negotiated under the direction of the celebrated Queen Margaret, and guaranteed the union of the three northern crowns, would take effect in his case. But in the same year in which he was intrusted with the supreme power in Denmark, Carl Knutson (Charles Canuteson) became king of Sweden, and soon after seized on the crown of Norway. Carl was forced, however, in 1450, to resign the latter, which then fell to Christiern; and his arbitrary rule in Sweden at length, in 1458, brought about the union of the three crowns in the person of the same king. Two years after, the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein came also into Christiern's possession. In 1464 an insurrection placed Carl a second time on the throne of Sweden. Christiern made two determined, but fruitless efforts, to recover the crown, in the latter of which he was himself wounded at the sanguinary battle of Brunkebjerg. He founded the university of Copenhagen. Christiern died in 1481. When his daughter Margaret became the queen of James III. of Scotland, Christiern, whose exchequer was unequal to the payment of her dower, pledged the islands of Orkney and Shetland, which have never been redeemed.—R. M., A.
CHRISTIERN II., grandson of Christiern I., king of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, was born in 1480. He was chosen successor to the throne during the life of his father, John, and from the year 1501 had a considerable share in the government, particularly in Norway, where he suppressed two insurrections with more vigour than humanity. On his accession in 1513 he signed a capitulation favourable to the power of the aristocracy; but this did not binder him from straining all his energies to render his own sway in the last degree absolute. To strengthen his tyrannical pretensions he allied himself in 1515 with the most powerful dynasty in Europe, by marrying Isabella, sister of Charles V. Soon after this he began to prepare for a war against Sweden, where the younger Sture, who had been named administrator of that country, refused to recognize the treaty of Colmar. His first expedition failed; but in 1520 the battle of Borgesund, in which Sture fell, was won by his general Otto Krumpen, and, notwithstanding the heroic defence of Stockholm by Sture's widow, decided the fate of Sweden. Christiern was crowned king in the same year, and proclaimed an amnesty, which he almost immediately profaned by barbarously murdering about ninety of the Swedish nobles, besides a great number of the people. At last Gustavus Vasa, who had borne the Swedish banner during Christiern's first expedition, and whose father was one of the murdered nobles, appeared at the head of the famous Dalecarlians. The Danes were soon driven out of the country. Gustavus, the liberator of Sweden, was elected king on the 7th June, 1523, and on that day the treaty of Colmar, which had lasted a hundred and twenty-six years, became a dead letter. Meanwhile Christiern had lost also the crown of Denmark; the nobles having taken advantage of his reverses to revenge the violation of the articles which he had signed on becoming king. For nine years after this he led an adventurous life, chiefly in the Low Countries. He conversed with Erasmus and corresponded with the German reformers, whose doctrines he approved when no opposite interest was present to his mind. In 1531 he at last succeeded, with the aid of Charles V., in conducting an expedition into Norway. The diet of that country proclaimed him king; but soon after he fell into the power of Frederic I., his successor on the Danish throne, who threw him into prison, where he died after a long confinement in 1559.—R. M., A.
CHRISTIERN III., King of Denmark and Norway, and son of Frederick I., was born in 1502, and died in 1559. He ascended the throne in 1536. Like Gustavus Vasa, with whom he was in close alliance, he signalized his reign by a vigorous support of the Reformation. One of the first measures of his rule deprived the clergy of all share in the civil power. At a diet held at Copenhagen in October, 1536, and composed of four hundred nobles, together with a few deputies of the people, Lutheranism was declared the religion of the state. The secularization of the church property immediately followed; although Christiern, listening to the remonstrance of Luther, reserved a considerable part of it for the support of the new establishment. Bugenhagen was brought from Wittemberg to assist in organizing the Danish protestant church. Its constitution, drawn up by the clergy and approved by Luther, was sanctioned at the diet of Odensee in 1539. The university of Copenhagen was likewise placed upon a better footing, and the general reform included a new order of schools for the liberal education of youth. In the midst of these peaceful improvements Christiern was threatened with war. The pretensions of the two sons-in-law of Christiern II. to the Danish throne being again raised, were supported by Charles V. Christiern III. upon this entered into an alliance with France; but the peace of Spire, at which Charles V. abandoned the cause of his brother-in-law, was concluded in 1544, and put an end to the danger. Christiern joined the league of Schmalkalden; but when the war of that name broke out, his treaty with the emperor prevented him from actively engaging in it. Commerce flourished during his reign. His wise policy first effectively neutralized the dangerous preponderance of the Hanseatic towns. Christiern, like many powerful rulers, was an encourager of letters. He was succeeded by his son Nidare.—R. M., A.
CHRISTIERN IV., King of Denmark and Norway, son of Frederick II., was born in 1577, and died in 1648. Being only twelve years of age when his father died, the regency, which should, according to custom, have fallen to Sophia of Mecklenburg, was seized by the aristocracy. He began to reign in 1596. The claims of Russia and Sweden to Norwegian Lapland brought him into collision with these two powers. Christiern, who possessed one of the best fleets of that time, conducted in person a naval expedition against the former in 1599, and twelve years afterwards gained several important victories in a war with Charles IX. It was in this war that the Norwegian peasants of the valley of Guldbrand destroyed a company of Scottish soldiers, one thousand strong, commanded by Colonel Sinclair. Peace was concluded between Sweden and Denmark on the accession of Gustavus Adolphus. The twelve years following 1613 were the most peaceful and illustrious of Christiern's reign. His whole attention was given to the internal condition of his country, and to the extension of her commerce. He improved the legislature, reorganized the university, founded schools of various kinds, made provision for the education of a number of poor scholars, established libraries, and built towns. He was the first monarch that sent expeditions to explore the north-west passage. One of the results of these expeditions was the annexation of Greenland to the crown of Denmark. Christiern also laid the foundation of the Danish power in the East. These peaceful labours were interrupted by the outbreak of the Thirty Years' War. Christiern was appointed captain-general of the league formed by the protestant powers for the defence of the elector-palatine, whose territories were invaded by the emperor. His military career, however, proved unsuccessful. At the head of twenty-seven thousand men of
