Sven III. (Denmark)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sven III. Grate ( Danish Svend Grathe ) (* before 1120; † October 23, 1157 near Viborg ) was made King of Denmark in 1146/47 . However, he was only recognized in Zealand and Skåne , in Jutland, however, his cousin Knut V.

Life

Sven was the son of Erik II. Emune , either from his wife Malmfried von Kiev , daughter of Grand Duke Mstislaw I , or from the extramarital relationship with Thunna.

After King Erik III. Lam had died in 1146 without a physical heir, Sven and his cousin Knut fell into disputes over the throne. In view of the imminent crusade against the Wends , they first made peace and raised a joint army against the Slavs . Two years later, the throne disputes flared up again. With the help of Adolf II von Schauenburg and Holstein , Sven managed to repel Knut's attacks on Zealand in 1146/1147 and 1150.

At the Merseburg Reichstag in 1152, an arbitration decision by King Friedrich Barbarossa was able to achieve a balance between the adversaries. Sven, who had come with Bremen's Archbishop Hartwig , Erik Lam's brother-in-law, became the sole king of Denmark. Knut, under the escort of Henry the Lion , was persuaded to renounce the throne and as Sven's vassal made Duke of Zealand. Waldemar , as Knud Lavard's son, a relative of both competitors and also with claims to the throne, received the Duchy of Schleswig .

Due to his controversial government policy (tax increases and disputes with the schooner Bishop Eskil von Lund ), Sven was unable to consolidate his power. Waldemar's change of party in 1153 led to Sven's expulsion, while Knut, together with Waldemar from the Viborger Landesthing, received homage as king in 1154 . Sven III. drove his return from exile at the court of his father-in-law, the Meissen Margrave Conrad I , with the help of Henry the Lion. He finally managed to do this in 1156 with the support of the Wendish fleet of the Abodritian prince Niklot . However, none of the three adversaries was able to establish supremacy afterwards, and Denmark was divided into three parts. In August 1157, under pressure from the nobility, a peace treaty was reached between the three aspirants to the throne in Roskilde , in which Waldemar Jutland, Knud Fyn, Zealand and the surrounding islands and Sven Schonen were awarded. At the festival on August 9, 1157, with which this contract was to be celebrated, Knut fell victim to an assassination attempt by Sven. Waldemar escaped the attack and in October was able to destroy Sven in the battle of Grathe Hede south of Viborg . On the run, Sven was killed by farmers. After his place of death he was nicknamed Grathe .

Marriage and offspring

Sven married Adela, daughter of Konrad, Margrave of Meissen , around 1152

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The Roskilde Blood Festival on danmarkshistorien.dk (Danish), accessed on 6 August 2015.
  2. ↑ Slaget på Grathe Hede 1157 on danmarkshistorien.dk (Danish)
  3. ↑ Gunhildkreuz on denstoredanske.dk (Danish)
predecessor Office successor
Erik III. King of Denmark
1137–1146 		Waldemar I.
personal data
SURNAME Sven III.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Sven III. from Denmark
BRIEF DESCRIPTION danish king
DATE OF BIRTH before 1120
DATE OF DEATH October 23, 1157
Place of death at Viborg