Christoph I. (Denmark)

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Christoph I.

Christoph I. usually called Christoffer , (* approx. 1219 ; † May 29, 1259 in Ribe ) was the Danish king from 1252 to 1259 .

Before the coronation

Christoffer was the youngest of three sons of King Waldemar II of Denmark and his wife Berengaria of Portugal . In 1248 he married Margarete Sambiria , the daughter of Duke Sambor II of Pomerania . Erik Plogpenning was in power from 1232 to 1250 and was murdered at the instigation of Abel. When King Abel was murdered in 1252, his eldest son Waldemar was in France. He wanted to go to Denmark immediately to succeed him, but was held by the Archbishop in Cologne until 1253. In the meantime, Christoffer had himself crowned king at Lund Cathedral at Christmas 1252 , which led to an ongoing dispute between the two lines.

Regency

Christoffer applied for Erik Plogpenning's canonization as a martyr with the aim of excluding Abel and his family as fratricides from the line of succession. This did not succeed because Abel's supporters successfully resisted it.

Soon there was a serious conflict with his personal enemy Archbishop Jakob Erlandsen von Lund , who took on bizarre features. On the maternal side, Erlandsen came from the Hvides family, whose members were followers of Abel. Jakob Erlandsen, who was appointed archbishop by the Pope in 1253 and was appointed to his office on Palm Sunday 1254, was of the opinion that ecclesiastical law took precedence over secular law, so that secular law had to give way in the event of a conflict with church law. The conflict was thus prepared in many areas: Whether the king could use the bishop's men for military service (especially in the war against the followers of the Abel clan), whether the bishop had the right to establish settlements, whether the king had any influence on the Choice of bishop, etc. The bishop never missed an opportunity to challenge the king. So he had the royal stalls removed from the cathedral in Lund.

When the king called an imperial assembly in Nyborg in 1256 , the archbishop called a church synod in Vejle for the same date , where resolutions were passed that were directed against the king. This included the decision that only the Danish bishops should have the right to crown the heir to the throne and that violence against a bishop would be answered with a boycott of worship throughout the country. The king replied in 1257 with an open letter to the Landsthing for Skåne in Lund, in which he declared the archbishop forfeited all rights and privileges. Thereupon the archbishop openly allied himself with Christoffer's enemies. A dispute he instigated between Christoffer and Håkon from Norway was soon settled peacefully between them. The Archbishop found the Count of Holstein , Prince Jaromar II of Rügen and Erik Abelsen , the younger son of the late King Abel, with whom the Abel family was to be brought to the throne, as new allies . The joint attack was repulsed by Christoffer.

He wanted to use the weakening of his opponent and have his nine-year-old son Erik crowned heir to the throne. The archbishop refused and forbade all other bishops to carry out such a coronation, because he still favored Erik Abelsen, the son of the predecessor, as his rightful successor. The king couldn't accept that. He had the archbishop captured in 1259 and brought to his brother Niels Erlandsen, governor of the king in Skåne. From there he was tied, with a fool's hat adorned with fox tails, sitting backwards on his horse, brought to the Hagenskov royal court on Funen in a dungeon. After this public humiliation of the Archbishop, only the Bishop of Roskilde Peder Bang had the courage to implement the decision of Vejle 1256 and to issue the interdict to close the churches in Skåne and Sjælland and everyone involved in the arrest of the Archbishop to occupy the ban . The king responded to this measure with the order to open the churches, which he enforced by force. Bishop Peder Bang then fled to Rügen. From there he soon came back with a new squad with Prince Jaromar and Erik Abelsen and raged cruelly in Sjælland. The king had to withdraw to Jylland and Prince Jaromar II took Copenhagen.

King Christoffer died unexpectedly in Ribe in the summer of 1259. It was soon said that he had been murdered with a poisoned communion wine from Abbot Arnfast of Ryde Monastery . His widow continued his fight and eventually helped his son to the throne.

progeny

The following are known of his children:

See also

literature

predecessor Office successor
Abel King of Denmark
1252–1259 		Erik V.
personal data
SURNAME Christoph I.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Christoffer I.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION King of Denmark (1219–1259)
DATE OF BIRTH 1219
DATE OF DEATH May 29, 1259
Place of death Ribe