Valdemar of Denmark

Valdemar Knudsen (also Waldemar, born in 1158; died 18 July 1236 in Cîteaux) was a Danish clergyman and statesman. Valdemar was Bishop of Schleswig from 1188 to 1208, officiated as Steward of the Duchy of Schleswig between 1184 and 1187, and served as Prince-Archbishop of Bremen from 1192 to 1194 and again between 1206 and 1217. He held the latter office on the grounds of the archdiocesan capitular election as archbishop elect and of the royal investiture with the princely regalia, but lacked the papal confirmation.

His mother, likely the wife of another man, gave birth to him as the posthumous illegitimate son of King Canute V of Denmark in early 1158. His father Canute V had been slain on 9 August 1157 by the co-regent Sweyn III. So Valdemar, like his half-brother, Saint Niels of Århus, claimed succession to the Danish throne.

Valdemar grew up at the court of his cousin, King Valdemar I of Denmark, the Great. Still in his youth his great ambitions and abilities crystallised, so that he was determined for the holy orders. At Christmas 1187 Duke Valdemar took over the Duchy of Schleswig and soon later Valdemar Knudsen was consecrated bishop probably in the Cathedral of St. Peter's. The Ditmarsians gained support by steward Valdemar,

In 1190 Emperor Henry VI revoked Hartwig's princely regalia empowering his rule in the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen, for his partisanship with the House of Welf. encouraged by Henry VI. Before entering the Prince-Archbishopric he won the support of Ditmarsh. Moreover, the bishop conspired with Adolphus III of Holstein, perhaps also with his brothers-in-law Jaromar I of Rugia and Casimir II of Pomerania, and with Canute I of Sweden and Sverre of Norway.

Despite the interventions by Pope Celestine III Bishop Valdemar stayed in captivity in Nordborg (1193–1198) and then in the tower at Søborg Castle on Zealand until 1206. Bishop Valdemar left Søborg for Rome. Innocent III, however, refused, referencing to canon law precepts. – again elected Valdemar. A minority, led by Bremen's cathedral capitular provost Burchard of Stumpenhusen, who had opposed this election, fled to Hamburg, then under Danish occupation. Hamburg and the neighbouring County of Holstein, both part of the archdiocesan but not of the prince-archiepiscopal territory, were subject to Danish occupation under Valdemar II, since in 1202 he had confederated himself with Otto IV, rival king against the German King Philip. Earlier Burchard, then still provost of the Bremian Chapter, had failed to subject the free peasants by military means. This weakness provoked his mother's cousin Count Maurice I of the neighbouring Oldenburg to subject them and annex Stedingen – also in vain. The free peasants of Stedingen agreed to provide Prince-Archbishop Valdemar with mercenaries, who in return retained any further attack on their freedom.

In 1208 Burchard invaded with Danish troops the prince-archiepiscopal territory south of the Elbe and conquered Stade. In August Prince-Archbishop Valdemar reconquered the city only to lose it soon after again to Valdemar II, who now built a bridge over the Elbe and fortified a forward post in Harburg upon Elbe. Bremen's cathedral chapter had fallen out with Valdemar and reconciled with Hamburg's concathedral chapter to elect a new archbishop, this time searching the papal consent. Innocent inflicted several bans on Valdemar for his inobedience. The Oldenburgers successfully defended the Burghagen Castle in Hagen im Bremischen against the Stedingers and Gerhard I mobilised the Count Henry I of Hoya to help, who inflicted the first defeat on the Stedingers in 1213. Henry V rescued the city with his troops. In 1217 the city of Bremen deserted Valdemar's party. After the deaths of Otto in 1218 and Gerhard I in 1219, Henry V reached an agreement with the new Prince-Archbishop Gerhard II, to maintain the County of Stade as prince-archiepiscopal vassal.

Valdemar as a monk In 1217 Valdemar fled the Prince-Archbishopric towards his nephew Albert I, Duke of Saxony. Valdemar was sent to Loccum, as he wished for, living a decent monastic life.

After in the night between 6 and 7 May 1223 Henry I, Count of Schwerin had kidnapped King Valdemar II and his son Valdemar the Young, in order to blackmail the Danish withdrawal from Holstein, Valdemar Knudsen saw again his chance to gain the Danish throne. Valdemar escaped the Loccum Abbey and gathered a crowd of supporters and invaded Danish-occupied Holstein in 1224, but was repelled by the Danish military commander Albert II, Count of Weimar-Orlamünde. Valdemar Knudsen did not recover, he was overlooked as participant in the Battle of Bornhöved (1227), where the victorious Low Saxon alliance of princes stopped the then Danish expansionism. In 1232 Valdemar moved into Cîteaux Abbey again, where he died on 18 July 1236. He was buried at the Abbey.