Everything about Valdemar I Of Denmark totally explained
Valdemar I of Denmark (
14 January 1131 -
12 May 1182), also known as
Valdemar the Great, was King of
Denmark from
1157 until
1182.
He was the son of
Canute Lavard, a chivalrous and popular Danish prince, who was the eldest son of
Eric I of Denmark. His father was murdered days before his birth; his mother, Ingeborg, daughter of
Mstislav I of Kiev, named him after her grandfather,
Vladimir Monomakh of
Kiev. .
As an heir to the throne, and with his rivals quickly gaining power, he was raised in the court of Asser Rig of Fjenneslev, together with Asser's sons,
Absalon and
Esbern Snare, who would become his trusted friends and ministers.
When Valdemar was sixteen years old, King
Erik III abdicated and a civil war erupted. The pretenders to the throne were:
Sweyn III Grathe, son of
Eric II Emune;
Canute (Knud V Magnussen), son of
Prince Magnus who was the son of
King Niels; and Valdemar himself (he was holding
Jutland, at least southern Jutland, as his possession). The civil war lasted the better part of ten years.
In 1157 King Sweyn hosted a great banquet for Canute, Absalon and Valdemar during which he planned to dispose of all his rivals. King Canute was killed, but Absalon and Valdemar escaped. Valdemar returned to Jutland. Sweyn quickly launched an invasion, only to be defeated by Valdemar at
Grathe Hede. He was killed during flight, supposedly by a group of peasants who stumbled upon him as he was fleeing from the battlefield.
Valdemar, having outlived all his rival pretenders, became the sole King of Denmark.
In
1158 Absalon was elected
Bishop of Roskilde, and Valdemar made him his chief friend and advisor. He reorganized and rebuilt war-torn Denmark. At Absalon's instigation he declared war upon the
Wends who were raiding the Danish coasts. They inhabited
Pomerania and the island of
Rügen in the
Baltic Sea. In
1168 the Wendish capital,
Arkona, was taken, and the Wends became Christians and subject to Danish suzerainty. Danish influence reached into Pomerania.
Valdemar's reign saw the rise of Denmark, which reached its zenith under his second son
Valdemar.
Marriage and children
Valdemar married
Sofia of Minsk (c 1141-1198), half-sister of
Canute V of Denmark and daughter of Dowager Queen
Rikissa of Sweden from her marriage with
Volodar of Minsk (Vladimir or Volodar Glebovich of the Rurikids, died 1167), ruling Prince of
Principality of Minsk, and they'd the following children:
His widow Sofia married then
Louis III, Landgrave of Thuringia.
Further Information
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