Helena of Denmark

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Princess Helena of Denmark (* around 1180; † November 22, 1233 in Lüneburg ) was heiress of Garding and by marriage Duchess of Lüneburg. She is the ancestor of all later Guelphs .

Life

Helena was born as the youngest daughter of the Danish King Waldemar I the Great (1131–1182) and his wife, Princess Sophia of Minsk (1141–1198). She was the sister of the Danish kings Canute VI. and Waldemar II and the French Queen Ingeborg .

In the summer of 1202, Princess Helena and Duke Wilhelm von Lüneburg (1184-1213) married in Hamburg , so she was the daughter-in-law of the Saxon Duke Heinrich the Lion and his English wife Princess Mathilde and carried the title of Duchess Helene von Lüneburg . The marriage resulted in a son, who later became the Duke of Braunschweig-Lüneburg , Otto I the child (1204–1252). After the early death of her husband, Duke Wilhelm, in 1213, her brother-in-law, Emperor Otto IV, took control of Lüneburg before Wilhelm's son Otto took over. The latter was appointed in 1223 by his uncle Heinrich the Elder to inherit the Guelph allodial property .

Duchess Helene was buried in the Benedictine monastery of St. Michaelis in Lüneburg.

See also

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