Family of Valdemar I and Sophia of MINSK

Husband:	Valdemar I (1131-1182)
Wife:	Sophia of MINSK (1140-1198)
Children:	Ingeborg (1175-1236)

Husband: Valdemar I

Wife: Sophia of MINSK

Name:	Sophia of MINSK
Sex:	Female
Father:	-
Mother:	-
Birth	1140
Occupation		Queen Consort of Denmark
Title	frm 1157 to 1182 (age 16-42)	Queen Consort of Denmark
Death	5 May 1198 (age 57-58)

Child 1: Ingeborg

Name:	Ingeborg
Sex:	Female
Spouse:	Philip II + (1165-1180)
Birth	1175
Death	29 Jul 1236 (age 60-61)	Priory of Saint-Jean-de L'lle
Burial		Church of Saint-Jean-de L'lle

Note on Husband: Valdemar I

Valdemar I of Denmark (14 January 1131 – 12 May 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. Valdemar's father was murdered by Magnus the Strong days before the birth of Valdemar; his mother, Ingeborg of Kiev, daughter of Mstislav I of Kiev and Christina Ingesdotter of Sweden, 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 sons, Absalon and Esbern Snare, who would become his trusted friends and ministers.

 

In 1146, when Valdemar was fifteen years old, King Erik III Lamb abdicated and a civil war erupted. The pretenders to the throne were: Sweyn III Grathe, son of Eric II Emune, son of Eric I. Canute V, son of Magnus the Strong who was the son of King Niels, who was the brother of Erik I. Valdemar himself held Jutland, at least Schleswig, as his possession. The civil war lasted the better part of ten years.

 

In 1157, the three agreed to part the country in three among themselves. Sweyn hosted a great banquet for Canute, Absalon, and Valdemar during which he planned to dispose of all of them. Canute was killed, but Absalon and Valdemar escaped. Valdemar returned to Jutland. Sweyn quickly launched an invasion, only to be defeated by Valdemar in the Battle of Grathe Heath. 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.

 

 

Bishop Absalon topples the god Svantevit at ArkonaIn 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 were raiding the Danish coasts. They 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 II.

 

[edit] IssueValdemar married Sophia 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:

 

Sophie, (1159–1208), married Siegfried III, Count of Orlamünde

King Canute VI of Denmark (1163–1202)

Maria, nun at Roskilde (born c. 1165)

Margareta, nun at Roskilde (born c. 1167)

King Valdemar II of Denmark (1170–1241)

Ingeborg (1175–1236), married King Philip II of France

Helena (c.1177-1233), married William of Lüneburg

Rikissa of Denmark (c. 1180-1220), married King Eric X of Sweden

His widow Sophia married then Louis III, Landgrave of Thuringia.

 

Illegitimate with Tove:

 

Christopher (1150–1173), Valdemar's eldest son, Duke of Jutland (dux Iuciae[1]) ca. 1170–1173

Note on Wife: Sophia of MINSK

Sophia of Minsk (or Sophia of Polotsk) (ca. 1140 – 5 May 1198) was a Danish mediaeval queen consort as the spouse of King Valdemar I of Denmark, and later a landgravine of Thuringia.

 

Contents [hide]

1 Biography

2 Children

3 References

4 External links

 

 

[edit] BiographySophia was the daughter of Richeza of Poland, Dowager Queen of Sweden, from her marriage to a man called "Valador" King in Poloni Land. Several speculations have been put forward as to exactly who her father was, but his identity is still uncertain. It is guessed[who?] to have been Prince Volodar of Minsk or Prince Vladimir of Halicz. Most probably it was Volodar (Valadar in Belarusian) of Minsk, who united the principalities of Minsk, Polotsk, and Hrodna under his rule, and had military interests in the Baltic region (for example, his military campaign in Northern Poland in 1159).[citation needed]

 

Sophia was the half-sister of Canute V of Denmark. After her mother's marriage to the Swedish king, she followed her to Sweden and was raised at the Swedish court. She was betrothed to Valdemar in 1154 as a form of alliance between Denmark and Sweden. As she had no property in Denmark, she was promised 1/8 of Canute's estates. She left Sweden and arrived in Denmark at the time of the engagement (1154), but as she was not considered old enough to marry, she was given to the custody of a woman named Bodil. She was married to Valdemar in Viborg in 1157, three years later.

 

Sophia is described as beautiful, dominant and cruel. According to legend,[which?] she murdered Valdemar's mistress Tove and injured his sister Kirsten, but this is not confirmed. She was widowed in 1182. Sophia received a proposal from, and married, Louis III, Landgrave of Thuringia in about 1184, and was escorted to the border by her son and a grand entourage. She was repudiated in 1190 and returned to Denmark.

 

[edit] ChildrenSofia married Valdemar I of Denmark (c 1131–1182), and they had the following children:

 

King Canute VI of Denmark (1163–1202)

King Valdemar II of Denmark (1170–1241)

Sophia (1159–1208), married Siegfried III, Count of Orlamünde

Margaret and Maria, nuns at Roskilde

Richeza of Denmark (died 1220), married King Eric X of Sweden

Helena (died 1233), married William, Duke of Brunswick-Luneburg

Ingeborg (1175–1236), married King Philip II of France