Rikissa of Denmark

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Queen Rikissa Valdemarsdotter (d 1220) was queen consort of Sweden.

She was a daughter of Valdemar I of Denmark and Sofia of Minsk.

Rikissa of Denmark received her first name, originally a Lotharingian-Burgundian female name, in honor of her maternal grandmother, the late Rikissa of Poland, queen of Sweden.

In c 1210 the new king Eric X of Sweden, who had deposed his predecessor Sverker II of Sweden, desired to build cordial and peaceful relations with Denmark, which had traditionally supported the House of Sverker, against the Norwegian-supported dynasty of Eric.

That was why Rikissa, sister of the then reigning Valdemar II of Denmark, was married to king Eric.

Rikissa bore her living husband only daughters. King Eric died in 1216. Queen Rikissa was pregnant at the time and then gave birth to her only surviving son, the future Eric XI of Sweden.

The family of king Eric X however was driven to exile from Sweden as the House of Sverker heir, John I of Sweden was elected king there, to succeed Rikissa's husband. It was in Denmark where Rikissa herself died, without seeing her son's accession to the throne (in 1222), nor her daughters' marriages.