On 14 January 1814, at Kiel, in the Duchy of Holstein, two treaties of peace are signed. The language: French. Edmund Bourke, Danish chamberlain, with Baron Gustaf af Wetterstedt, for Sweden: 28 articles and one separate article. The same Bourke, with Edward Thornton, British envoy at the Swedish court: 14 articles. Denmark–Norway leaves the alliance with Napoleon. Bernadotte, Swedish crown prince, had occupied Schleswig and Holstein in December.

The Dano-Swedish treaty, Article 1: peace, friendship and good understanding. Article 3: Frederick VI declares war on the Emperor of the French and places a Danish contingent under the crown prince, as set out in the treaty signed the same day with George III. Article 4: the King of Denmark renounces, irrevocably and forever, for himself and his successors, all rights to the Kingdom of Norway — the bishoprics of Christiansand, Bergen, Akershus and Trondheim, with Nordland and Finnmark to the Russian border, the inhabitants, towns, harbours, fortresses and islands. Greenland, the Faroes and Iceland are excepted. Norwegian subjects are released from their oath to the Danish crown. Norway becomes a kingdom united with Sweden, in full property and sovereignty of the Swedish king.

Article 5: the inhabitants of Norway keep their laws, exemptions, rights and privileges. Article 6: Sweden takes the share of the Danish public debt corresponding to Norway’s population and revenues; commissioners at Copenhagen within a month of the exchange of ratifications. Article 7: Sweden cedes to Denmark Swedish Pomerania and the island of Rügen, on the same terms. Article 8: the Pomeranians keep their laws from the constitutional acts of 1810 and 1811. Article 12: the university at Christiania remains; that at Greifswald passes with Pomerania.

Article 15: hostilities cease on signature. Schleswig, including Frederiksort, is evacuated at once; Holstein, after ratifications, except the corps blockading Hamburg; Glückstadt, after the Danish ratification and the crown prince’s provisional one. Swedish troops enter Norway; Pomerania is handed over when Fredriksten, Kongsvinger, Fredrikstad and Akershus are occupied. Article 17: exchange of prisoners. Article 27: the peaces of Copenhagen (1660), Stockholm (1720), Frederiksborg (1720) and Jönköping (1809) are confirmed so far as they do not conflict with Kiel.

The Dano-British treaty, Article 3: London restores occupied Danish possessions, except Heligoland, over which George III receives full and unlimited sovereignty. Article 6: Denmark puts 10,000 men under allied command, with £400,000 a year, in monthly instalments. Article 8: the abolition of the slave trade. Article 10: Britain promises to negotiate further compensation for the cessions to Sweden. Two articles added at Brussels on 7 April protect Danish property in the colonies for three years.

Norway does not surrender. The elite in Christiania elect Prince Christian Frederik; at Eidsvoll, on 17 May, a constitution. Sweden refuses to hand over Pomerania. A short war, then the Convention of Moss. An extraordinary Storting elects Charles XIII king of Norway, on 4 November. The personal union lasts until 1905.

At Vienna, Swedish Pomerania passes to Prussia. Denmark receives the Duchy of Lauenburg, on the Holstein border, plus payments. Greenland, Iceland and the Faroes remain Danish. Norway will contest Eastern Greenland in 1931–1933, and lose.

Image: Rüdiger Stehn, Kiel Castle, 19 September 2017, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons. Cropped to 16:9.

Source consulted: Treaty of Kiel. Treaty text: Fredstraktat imellem Danmark og Sverige, Kiel, 14 January 1814 (Schou).