Adolf VIII of Holstein

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Adolf VIII of Holstein (German: Adolf von Schauenburg) (1401 – December 4, 1459), Duke of Southern Jutland (Danish, Sønderjylland), i.e Schleswig, and Count of Holstein, was the mightiest vassal of the Danish realm. He descended from a branch of the family of Schauenburg, who had for centuries been counts of Holstein, and as such, vassals of the Holy Roman Empire. His great-grandfather, having also been a Regent of the Kingdom of Denmark, had received the Duchy of Sonderjylland from the Danish crown as a hereditary fief. It had been lost, but Queen Margaret I of Denmark had returned it, although with restrictions of power.

Adolf's lands were located in both sides of the border between Denmark and Germany.

Prince Adolf's father was Gerhard VI of Holstein, duke of Schleswig, who was murdered in 1404. Adolf succeeded his elder brother, Henry IV, Duke of Schleswig and count of Holstein in 1427.

He was a cognatic descendant of King Eric V of Denmark, whose mother Queen Dowager Margaret Sambiria had obtained a papal confirmation of the right of also female descendancy of Christopher I of Denmark to succeed to the throne of Denmark.

The current branch of Danish royal house became extinct in 1448 with the death of Christopher III of Denmark. The throne was offered to Duke Adolf by statsraad, who was the vassal with the biggest holdings in the Danish realm. Adolf, old and childless, declined and supported the candidacy of his own nephew the count of Oldenburg who became Christian I of Denmark.

In 1459 Adolf died childless. His sisters were the late Helvig (Hedwig) who was married with count of Oldenburg and had left children, and the yet living elderly Ingeborg, Abbess of Vadstena, a nun, unmarried and childless. There were several claimants to Schleswig and Holstein, since several branches of the Schauenburg family, counts of different parts of Holstein, had left female offspring and their cognatic heirs. Adolf's branch was not genealogically very senior.

The representatives of Schleswig and Holstein (nobility and some delegates of the Estates) convened in Ribe, where on 5 March 1460 the succession was confirmed to Christian I of Denmark, the eldest nephew of the late duke.