Canute VI of Denmark

Knut VI. (* 1162/1163, † 1202) was from 1182 to 1202 King of Denmark.

He was the eldest son of Valdemar I of Denmark (1131-1182) and his wife Sophia of Minsk ( † 1198 ). On the occasion of the translation of the relics his grandfather Lavard Knud (1096-1131) by Ringsted was Knut VI. 1170 crowned co-regent of his father.

In 1176 he married Gertrude, a daughter of Henry the Lion († 1195). Gertrude died in 1197, the marriage remained childless and Knut went after a no more marriage. His sister Sophia ( * 1159 ) married the Count Siegfried III. of Weimar- Orlamünde († 1206), who was a supporter of the Hohenstaufen and was staying for most of his life in Denmark.

Knut VI. 1182 was also Duke of Halland. In 1185 his followers defeated the army of the Duke of Pomerania Bogislaw I. († 1187 ), who after his vassal was. 1189 Knut sat from the Castellan of Stettin Wartislaw Swantiboricz († 1196) and in 1193 he took the rebellious bishop of Schleswig and Archbishop of Bremen Waldemar († 1236 ) caught. After the year 1200 ( or 1201) his vassals won the battle of Waschow, he also dominated an area north German and Slavic peoples, so that you additionally referred to him as King of the Wends.

In the history of Estonia, the missionary was noted to Christianity around 1196 by the Danish king.

On December 28, 1200 issued Knut VI. the law on homicide, were regulated in the level of penalties and recourse for manslaughter. This law is one of the earliest proven decrees of royal legislation in Denmark.

Knut VI died in 1202. , His grave is located in the Ringsteder St. Bendts Church, which served as a grave place of the Danish kings 1182-1341. His brother Waldemar II (1170-1241) succeeded him and sat Knuts policy continued.