Valdemar I of Denmark

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Statue of Valdemar the Great in the town square of Ringsted

Valdemar I of Denmark (1131-1182), 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 son, Absalon, who would become his trusted friend and minister.

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 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. Valdemar I died in 1182 and was succeeded by his eldest son Canute VI.

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 had the following children: