The members of the Council of Denmark seem to have developed from being councillors of the king to being representatives of the magnates and noblemen.
From the 1320s it clearly appears as a force, and from the 1440s it was the permanent opponent of royal power, replacing the Danehof.
The "backbenchers" of the council took part in daily negotiations of problems and administration, voted, and took on diplomatic tasks.
It led negotiations over the creation of a new haandfæstning, and in theory it also had to call for a rebellion against kings who did not keep their promises, a right that was used in 1523.
However, in the 16th century, it was not quite unusual that the councillors to some degree identified with the State rejecting too extravagant demands from the Danish gentry.
The many military defeats of the 17th century and especially growing economic problems and conservatism of the nobility also weakened the prestige of the council, and the king gradually tried to strengthen his own influence.
As Norway had of old been a hereditary kingdom, the Norwegian Riksråd's task did not, originally include the election of the king, as in Sweden and Denmark.
On his death, in 1481, the Riksråd ruled the country for two years, in an interregnum, before electing Christian's son as the new king – a period which could be seen as the height of the council's power.
The archbishop went into exile, the Protestant reformation was carried through in Denmark and Norway, and the Norwegian Riksråd never assembled again.
Sten Sture of the Riksråd led the resistance against the Danish-dominated Union of Kalmar until he was killed in battle in the beginning of 1520.
King Charles XI was Sweden's first absolute monarch who led an immense 'reduction' policy (the retrieval of land from the nobility).
[5] This continued until the end of the Swedish absolutists in 1718 when Charles XII was killed during the Great Northern War.