Niels (Denmark)

Niels Svensson ( Nicolás Svensson * around 1064; † June 25, 1134 ) was King of Denmark from 1104 to 1134 .

genealogy

Niels - the illegitimate son of Sven Estridsson - was the heir to the throne of his brother Erik Ejegod , who died in 1103 during a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in Cyprus . Erik had chosen his roughly twelve-year-old illegitimate son Harald Kesja as his successor, but the aristocrats chose Niels.

In 1104 Niels married Margarethe Fredkulla , widow of King Magnus Berrføt of Norway , who died in 1103, and daughter of the Swedish King Inge Stenkilsson . With her he had the sons Magnus the Strong and Ingo and the daughter Ingrid. In his second marriage, Niels was married to Ulvhild Håkonsdatter . According to Saxo Grammaticus, she kidnapped Sverker I of Sweden and made her his wife.

Life

The first 25 years of his reign were peaceful. The relationship between the state and the church under Archbishop Asker von Lund developed positively. Niels introduced the church tithing . As the first Danish king, Niels called himself “King by God's grace”. He also limited the number of his retinue, which reduced the traveling king's accommodation costs. He used his followers ( hirðmenn ) all over the country as his officials who had to collect fines, confiscate wrecks and accept inheritances for the king where there was no natural inheritance. The building of the castle at Ribe goes back to King Niels .

Knud , the son of his brother Erik, was very popular with the Schleswigers , so they chose him as their patron in 1119. Niels' son Magnus saw him as a dangerous rival to the throne and murdered him on January 7, 1131 near Ringsted . This triggered a civil war lasting several years between Niels and his son Magnus on the one hand and Erik Emune, Knud Lavard's half-brother, on the other.

When Pope Innocent II revoked the independence of the Danish church province of Lund and placed it under Hamburg-Bremen again, Archbishop Asker and the powerful "Hvide" family of chiefs from Sjælland turned away from Niels and Magnus, who they held responsible, and joined Erik Emune on. On June 11th 1134 the battle of Fodevig near Lund took place. The battle ended with the total defeat of Niels and Magnus, because a (probably German) knight troop of 300 men attacked the king's army quite unexpectedly and gave him no time to line up in battle. Magnus and five bishops who had sided with Niels fell. Niels fled to Schleswig, of all places, in a complete overestimation of his royal authority. There the Schleswig residents killed King Niels in revenge for the murder of their beloved Knud Lavard.

He was the last of Sven Estridsson's sons on the Danish throne.