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It was always kept up, and during the wars with Sweden, was brought
up to the requirements of the times. In 1628, supported by the old
regulations regarding the military defence of the country, there was
further established a national standing army. From the time of
Christian IV’s reign (1588—1648) — thanks to the interest the
king took in the country — Norway was once more aroused to an
independent existence by the rapidly growing prosperity of trade.
Owing, however, to the defeats of the Danish army during the
unhappy wars which this king and his successor waged with Sweden,
several of the best districts had to be relinquished. After the war
in 1658, Norway, by the cession of the district of Trondhjem, was
almost brought into a condition of total dissolution; but the very
next year, the army, supported by a rising of the people, retook
that important district.
By political changes in 1660 and 1661, Norway was again
placed on an equality with Denmark, under the ride of the
hereditary absolute monarchs. These created a new administration,
chiefly in the hands of native office-bearers, and improved the
legislation by the introduction of Christian V’s Norwegian law. In
the course of time, the absolute power of the Dano-Norwegian kings
passed into a bureaucracy, against whose encroachments the
common people sought and found their surest defence in the absolute
monarch himself. Two wars, the Gyldenløve War (1675—1679)
and the great Northern War (1709—1720), in which the young and
intrepid naval hero, Peter Wessel, who was raised to the nobility
under the name af Tordenskjold, won great renown, shed a lustre
over army and fleet, but retarded the development of the nation.
But during the long period of peace after 1720, its prosperity grew
continually. Among the peasant classes, the number of freehold
proprietors was steadily augmenting, and large tracts of land were
brought under cultivation. New towns sprang up, and the
population increased. Trade and navigation were extended after the
middle of the 18th century. During the North American struggle
for liberty, the government concluded an armed neutrality with
Sweden and Russia. Under its protection, trade and navigation
attained a hitherto unknown level, greatly to the benefit of the
country. When, in 1800, the same powers in conjunction with
Prussia, entered upon a similar alliance for the protection of their
commercial interests, England endeavoured to break it. A brief
war with that country was the consequence. After the battle in
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