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 in Denmark at the time took the form of the Riksråd, which were reluctant to a proposal from the second (bishoprics) and third estates (burghers) to replace the elective monarchy with hereditary monarchy.^[1]

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 father, Christian IV of Denmark. However, the political situation surrounding his election was tense, and following a brief 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, when previously the number had been chosen by the king. These concessions meant that Frederik had limited use of his powers early in his reign, until the late 1650s when, using some clever political manoeuvering, the young king was able to oust two of his primary rivals from the council: Hannibal Sehested in 1651 over mismanagement of funds as the Governor-general of Norway,^[2] and Corfitz Ulfeldt in 1657 over treasonous conduct in helping Sweden during the Dano-Swedish War (1657–58).^[3] This paved the way for him to begin to solidify his power.

Following the second war in under 3 years, the kingdom of Denmark was on the verge of bankruptcy. Frederick's debts had reached over 5 million rigsdalers, which posed a significant problem.^{[citation needed]}

In September 1660, a Declaration of Emergency was proclaimed. This called the estates together to meet to discuss problems in the realm. At the meeting the estates were to discuss the financial problems caused by the wars, and significant negotiations were made over the issue of tax. The three estates were represented as follows:

• The nobles, represented by the Riksråd.
• The clergy, represented by Hans Svane
• The burghers, represented by Hans Nansen

The nobility were attempting to defend their traditional tax exemptions but were surprised by the fierce opposition from the clergy and the burghers. The nobles dug their feet in and refused to concede any ground, which irritated the leaders of the other two factions to the extent that at a hint from the king Hans Nansen, senior burgomaster of Copenhagen, made an impassioned speech to the other burgesses about a revolutionary proposal for a fundamental restructuring of the Danish state, calling for the abolition of Frederick's election charter, the Haandfæstning, as well as introducing a permanent hereditary monarchy (as Norway had been since 1537) and the abolition of all noble privileges in the form of tax exemptions and land grants. The nobles protested strongly, but the king backed the two non-nobility estates, forming a body that he called the "Conjoined Estates", and appointed the bishop Hans Svane as their chairman. On 8 October 1660 they then met at the bishop's palace. It was here that the bishop made his own motion, stating, "Equal rights for all and a free hand for the king." A document was then made laying out these demands, and was taken to the nobles, who rejected the radical proposal. On the evening of 20 October Frederick made it publicly known that he intended to accept the offer without the position of the council, and placed Copenhagen under martial law, as well as tightened military control across the country. The Riksråd council was unpopular, and with the military acting on the side of the king they were completely outmanoeuvered and decided to yield under this extreme pressure. Three days later, Conjoined Estate representatives and delegates from the Riksråd officially offered the hereditary throne to Frederik and his successors. A Commission was established, in which nobles were heavily outnumbered, to consider the constitutional implications, and on 27 October, Frederik's coronation charter ( Haandfæstning ) was ceremoniously returned to him.^{[citation needed]}

For their parts in this process the King thanked Hans Svane by raising him to the rank of Archbishop, who was the only Danish archbishop to have ever existed. Hans Nansen mostly retired from politics and returned to his merchant work, but in high regard.

The King's Law (Danish: Kongeloven) was the first assertion of Divine right of kings in Europe in a written constitution, stating that the king "skal være hereffter og aff alle undersaatterne holdes og agtes for det ypperste og høyeste hoffved her paa Jorden offver alle Menniskelige Lowe, og der ingen anden hoffved og dommere kiender offver sig enten i Geistlige eller Verdslige Sager uden Gud alleene." - the king "shall from this day forth be revered and considered the most perfect and supreme person on the Earth by all his subjects, standing above all human laws and having no judge above his person, neither in spiritual nor temporal matters, except God alone."^[5][6] This in effect gave the king the right to overrule and abolish any other position of power unilaterally, which he then used to abolish the Riksråd council, leaving the king without any limitations to his power.

• Aristocracy of officials