Valdemar I of Denmark
Valdemar I the Great ( Valdemar I. the store; born January 14, 1131 † May 12, 1182 in Vordingborg ) out of the house Estridsson was King of Denmark from 1157 to 1182.
Youth and successor Erik III.
Waldemar was the son of Knud Lavard, Duke of Southern Jutland ( Dux Danicae ), and grandson of King Erik Ejegod. It was a week after his father had been killed by King Magnus of Sweden, was born. His mother, Ingeborg, daughter of Mstislav I, Grand Prince of Kiev, gave him the name of her grandfather, the Great Prince Vladimir II He grew up in Fjenneslev, at the court of Asser Rig, a Zeeland chief of the family of Hvide, together with its sons Esbern and Absalon, who later became Bishop of Roskilde ( 1158 ) and Archbishop of Lund ( 1177 ), both to his friends and advisers.
As there in 1146 after the resignation of King Erik III. came to succession disputes in which the two pretenders Sven III. Burrs, son of Valdemar II Emune uncle Erik and Knut V., son of Magnus, his father's killer, were, the 15 -year-old Waldemar sided with Sven, who gave him for the office of Prefect in Schleswig.
1153 Sven fell out with the family Hvide, whereupon Waldemar parted from him and Knut Magnusson joined, with his half- sister on the mother Sophia of Minsk in 1154 he became engaged and whom he married in 1157. In the same year 1154 Knut and Waldemar were elected at the Viborg Country Thing kings of Denmark. As Sven, who had to go into exile in 1153, returned in 1157, the now three claimants agreed on a division of the state, received at the Waldemar Jutland. However, Sven tried at a banquet, which he held for Knut and Waldemar, to get rid of the competition ( " blood Roskilde Festival" on August 9, 1157 ). Knut came in this attack by Waldemar escaped badly wounded and making ready for the final battle that took place at Grathe Hede on October 23, 1157. Sven was defeated and was killed on the run, so that Waldemar was the sole king of Denmark now.
King Valdemar
Waldemar's government is characterized by a policy of reconciliation within and through its relations with the Emperor Barbarossa, to whom he paid homage in 1158 and 1162, and the Saxon Duke Henry the Lion, which he completed in 1159 a treaty of friendship. It remains unclear, however, how far Valdemar policy dated back to the latter or by his friends Absalon of Lund and Esbern Snare was determined.
1160 attracted Waldemar and Heinrich together against the Abodrites in Mecklenburg. The year before, the Danish king had his repeated now almost annual fleet attacks against the Ranen on Rügen began, which in turn regularly the coasts of Denmark had devastated, and which culminated on June 15, 1169 in the conquest and destruction of their sanctuary at Cape Arkona - the Christianization of Rügen thus was mainly due to Waldemar rule.
Parallel to his activities beyond the country's borders, he secured the entrances to his kingdom by expanding the Danevirke ( Waldemar wall) and the construction of military installations, with which the straits between the Baltic Sea and Kattegat could be controlled ( Kalundborg, Korsör ( Tarnburg ), Nyborg, Sprogøe and Vordingborg the Great Belt, Copenhagen and Helsingborg on the Oresund ).
To his domestic successes also means that he was able to make the monarchy in Denmark hereditary and replace the elective monarchy. Waldemar had ended a long-standing dispute with Bishop Eskil of Lund and was 1165/66 in return of Pope Alexander III. been recognized as the hereditary king. Waldemar reiterated this by 1166 his son Knut VI. was proclaimed king. On June 25, 1170 Knud VI was. crowned in Ringsted. At the same father Knud Valdemar Lavard was canonized and thus extends the Danish monarchy to a religious foundation.
Family
Waldemar married in 1157 Sophia of Minsk ( probably * 1141, † 1198 ), a daughter of Prince Volodar of Minsk and the Polish Princess Richeza. As Sophia's mother had been previously married to Magnus I., Sophia was the half-sister of Knut V. were your children:
- Sophia ( * probably in 1159, † 1208). , ∞ 1181 Siegfried III, Count of Orlamünde († 1206)
- Knut VI. (probably in 1162, † 1202), 1182 King of Denmark; ∞ 1177 Gertrude of Saxony, daughter of Henry the Lion ( Welf )
- Margaret and Mary, 1188 nuns in Roskilde
- Valdemar II of the winners (* 1170, † 1241 ), 1202 King of Denmark; ∞ I 1205 Dagmar ( Margaret ), daughter of Ottokar I. Přemysl, King of Bohemia ( Przemyslids ); ∞ II 1214 Berengaria of Portugal; † 1221 daughter of Sancho I, King of Portugal
- Ingeborg († 1237/38 ); ∞ 1193 Philip Augustus, King of France; † 1223 (master list of the Capetian )
- Helena († 1233 ) ∞ 1202 Wilhelm, Duke of Lüneburg ( † 1213) ( Guelph )
- Rikissa of Denmark ( † 1220 ) ∞ 1210 Erik X., 1208 King of Sweden († 1216 )
Waldemar had with Tove also an illegitimate son, Christoph (* probably in 1150, † 1173 ), Duke of Southern Jutland ( dux Iuciae ). The unrequited love of Waldemar and Tove was designed as a legend and was the composer Arnold Schoenberg as a basis for Gurrelieder.
Waldemar was in St. Mary's Church ( now St. Bendt ) buried in Ringsted. Sophia married in 1184 to her second husband Ludwig III. , Landgrave of Thuringia.