1660 state of emergency in Denmark

A state of emergency was declared by the King of Denmark, Frederick III of Denmark in 1660. Its purpose was to put pressure on the nobility of the first estate, which were reluctant to a proposal from the second and third estates to replace the elective monarchy with hereditary monarchy.

Background

Prior to the state of emergency, denmark had an elective monarchy. The king was elected upon the death of the previous king by a council of noblemen known as the Riksråd, which also functioned as a counterbalance to the king's power while they were in office.

Frederik III was elected king in 1648, following the death of his older brother, Christian IV of Denmark. However, the political situation surrounding his election was tense, and following a breif period of interregnum he had to offer several concessions to the riksråd in return for their vote. Part of this process was a concession fixing the number of nobles on the council to 23, where previously the number had been chosen by the king. These concessions meant that Frederik had limited use of his powers early on in his reign, up until the late 1650s where using some clever political manouvering the young king was able to oust two of his primary rivals from the council: Hannibal Sehested (governor) in 1651 over mismanagement of funds as the govenor of norway, and Corfitz Ulfeldt in 1657 over treasonous conduct in helping sweden during the Dano-Swedish War (1657–58). This paved the way for him to begin to solidify his power.