"Kongens fald" was originally published in three parts/volumes: Part I: "Foraarets Død" (The Death of Spring), March 1900. Part II: "Den store Sommer" (The Great Summer), November 1990. Part III: "Vinteren" (The Winter), October 1901. Mikkel Thøgersen is a social outcast whose fate is strangely intertwined with that of the Danish king, Christian II.