Language, class, and constitutional politics in Schleswig-Holstein

Schleswig was a Danish fief with Danish, German, and North Frisian communities rather than an exclusively German territory. A long linguistic shift left the north and centre Danish-speaking while German language and culture became stronger farther south. Clergy and noble elites were especially connected to German political life and pressed for incorporation into a larger Germany. That preference sat uneasily beside Denmark's comparatively liberal constitution because contemporary German institutions still preserved extensive monarchical and aristocratic power. Language, class, constitutional preference, and elite influence could therefore point in different directions within the same nationalist dispute.