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Eric I [1] ( c. 1060 – 10 July 1103), also known as Eric the Good [2] [3] [4] ( Danish: Erik Ejegod ), was King of Denmark following his brother Olaf I Hunger in 1095. He was a son of Sweyn II. His mother's identity remains unknown. He married Boedil Thurgotsdatter .
Jul 12, 2020 · In 1170, Valdemar I was the first Danish king to be anointed and crowned, while his son Canute VI was crowned as junior king beside him. By appointing a junior ruler during his lifetime, Valdemar aimed to secure an orderly succession, as he also accentuated his dynasty’s rightful prominence.
- Overview
- Declining royal power and Holstein rule
- Reunion under Valdemar IV
The battle between nobles and kings largely defined late medieval politics. Following the murder of King Erik V in 1286, the guardians of Erik’s heir, Erik VI, still a minor, consolidated their power around the young prince and established a nearly absolutist regime. Upon reaching his majority, the king became involved in military adventures abroad, particularly in northern Germany, and by his death in 1319 the country was deeply in debt.
The childless Erik VI was succeeded by his brother, Christopher II, who was forced by the nobles to sign a strict coronation charter; he was also the first king to accept the hof as a permanent institution. He did not abide by the charter, however, and was driven into exile after a battle with the magnates and the count of Holstein.
By this point the kingdom’s creditors, mostly great lords from Denmark and the north German states, had acquired significant power. From 1326 to 1330 the young duke of South Jutland, Valdemar, ruled under the regency of the count of Holstein. Christopher II returned to the throne during 1330–32, but during his reign the kingdom was split by a peasant uprising, church discord, and the struggle with Holstein, which received almost all of the country in pawn.
After the death of Christopher in 1332, no new king was chosen. The counts of Holstein ruled the country until 1340, when Gerhard of Holstein, to speed up tax collection, moved his army into Jutland, where he was murdered. Christopher’s son then ascended the throne as Valdemar IV Atterdag.
The battle between nobles and kings largely defined late medieval politics. Following the murder of King Erik V in 1286, the guardians of Erik’s heir, Erik VI, still a minor, consolidated their power around the young prince and established a nearly absolutist regime. Upon reaching his majority, the king became involved in military adventures abroad, particularly in northern Germany, and by his death in 1319 the country was deeply in debt.
The childless Erik VI was succeeded by his brother, Christopher II, who was forced by the nobles to sign a strict coronation charter; he was also the first king to accept the hof as a permanent institution. He did not abide by the charter, however, and was driven into exile after a battle with the magnates and the count of Holstein.
By this point the kingdom’s creditors, mostly great lords from Denmark and the north German states, had acquired significant power. From 1326 to 1330 the young duke of South Jutland, Valdemar, ruled under the regency of the count of Holstein. Christopher II returned to the throne during 1330–32, but during his reign the kingdom was split by a peasant uprising, church discord, and the struggle with Holstein, which received almost all of the country in pawn.
After the death of Christopher in 1332, no new king was chosen. The counts of Holstein ruled the country until 1340, when Gerhard of Holstein, to speed up tax collection, moved his army into Jutland, where he was murdered. Christopher’s son then ascended the throne as Valdemar IV Atterdag.
The new king married the sister of the duke of South Jutland, who gave the northern quarter of North Jutland as her dowry; he began his reign with the reunion of Denmark as his first priority. By selling Estonia (1346) and collecting extra taxes, he reclaimed some of the pawned areas and brought others back through negotiations or force of arms. In 1360 he conquered Skåne, which had come under Swedish rule, and, a year later, the Swedish island of Gotland. Denmark was thus reunited.
Royal power was strengthened during Valdemar IV’s reign. The king succeeded in quelling a series of revolts by leading magnates, and at a hof in 1360, a “great national peace” was agreed between the monarch and the people. The hof was replaced by the Rigsråd (Council of the Realm)—a national council of the archbishop, the bishops, and the lensmænd (vassals) from the main castles—and the king’s Retterting (Court of Law) became the supreme court. Valdemar also attacked major economic problems: after the Black Death pandemic in 1350, he confiscated ownerless estates and regained royal estates that had been lost during the interregnum; additionally, the army was reorganized.
Mar 7, 2018 · Margaret I became the first rightful ruler of all of Scandinavia and was well respected by almost everyone in Norway, Denmark, and Sweden. She was “Our Mighty Lady and Sovereign” to the people of the three kingdoms in 1387, when her diplomatic skills and expertise persuaded Sweden to join the Danish-Norwegian alliance, laying the foundations for the Kalmar Union, the one and only Nordic ...
Aug 15, 2021 · August 1250, Eric IV – also known as Eric Ploughpenny – was murdered on a boat and dumped in the firth of Schlei. His death was the culmination of ten years of civil war and the harbinger of a tumultuous period in the medieval history of Denmark.
Margaret I ( Danish: Margrete Valdemarsdatter; March 1353 – 28 October 1412) was Queen regnant of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden (which included Finland) from the late 1380s until her death, and the founder of the Kalmar Union that joined the Scandinavian kingdoms together for over a century.
In Denmark the term Middle Ages is used for the period from around the year 1000, when Denmark first became a Christian kingdom, until 1536, when the Lutheran Reformation defeated and replaced the Roman Catholic Church controlled by the Pope.
