by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2025
Christopher I, King of Denmark; Credit – Wikipedia
Christopher I, King of Denmark reigned from 1252 to 1259. Born circa 1219, he was the third of the three sons and the fourth of the four children of Valdemar II, King of Denmark and his second wife, Berengaria of Portugal. Eric IV’s paternal grandparents were Valdemar I the Great, King of Denmark and Sophia of Minsk. His maternal grandparents were Sancho I, King of Portugal and Dulce of Aragon. In 1221, Abel’s mother, Berengaria, died in childbirth, delivering a stillborn child.
Christopher had three full siblings:
- Eric IV, King of Denmark (2016 – 1250), married Jutta of Saxony, had two sons who died young, and four daughters
- Sophie of Denmark (1217 – 1247), married Johann I, Margrave of Brandenburg, had five sons and one daughter
- Abel, King of Denmark (1218 – 1252), married Mechtilde of Holstein, had five children
Christopher had one half-brother from his father’s first marriage to Dagmar of Bohemia, who died in childbirth in 1212, giving birth to a stillborn son:
In 1218, Christopher’s older half-brother, Valdemar the Young, was crowned Junior King as their father’s co-ruler and heir. On November 28, 1231, Valdemar the Young was accidentally shot by an arrow while hunting and died the same day. After Valdemar the Young died, Christopher’s brother Eric was crowned Junior King of Denmark, his father’s co-ruler and heir, at Lund Cathedral on May 30, 1232. At that time, Eric ceded the Duchy of Schleswig to his younger brother Abel.
Christopher’s father, Valdemar II, King of Denmark, on the royal frieze in Saint Bendt’s Church in Ringsted, Denmark; Credit – Wikipedia
Christopher’s father Valdemar II, King of Denmark, aged seventy, died on March 28, 1241, at Vordingborg Castle in Vordingborg, Denmark, and Christopher’s brother Eric IV became the sole King of Denmark. However, Eric’s reign was marked by conflicts with his brothers, especially with Abel.
Christopher’s wife, Margrethe Sambiria; Credit – Wikipedia
In 1248, Christopher married Margrethe Sambiria (circa 1230 – 1282), the daughter of Sambor II, Duke of Pomerania and Matilda of Mecklenburg. Christopher and Margrethe had five known children:
- Eric V, King of Denmark (1249 – 1286), married Agnes of Brandenburg, had three sons and four daughters
- Waldemar, died in childhood
- Niels, died in childhood.
- Mechtild (? – 1300) married Albrecht III, Margrave of Brandenburg-Salzwedel, had two sons and two daughters
- Margrethe (? – 1306), married Johann II, Count of Holstein-Kiel, had two sons
Ingeborg
During the reign of Christopher’s brother, King Eric IV, their brother Abel, as Duke of Schleswig, demanded independence for his duchy, leading to seemingly never-ending conflicts over many years. Through the mediation of their sister Sophia, a treaty was concluded between Eric IV and Abel in 1247, which restored Eric IV’s sole rule of Denmark and assured the other brothers of their duchies. However, the treaty lasted only three years. In 1250, King Eric IV conquered most of Abel’s duchy, and the two brothers met at Abel’s home in Schleswig to make a settlement on August 10, 1250. During the visit, Eric IV was beheaded by Lave Gudmundsen, a knight and one of Abel’s trusted courtiers, who then sank Eric IV’s body in the Schlei, an inlet in south Schleswig at the western end of the Baltic Sea. Although Abel was considered by most to be responsible for Eric IV’s murder, 24 knights swore to his innocence at the Landsting in Viborg, and Abel was proclaimed King of Denmark on November 1, 1250.
Christopher began organizing what turned out to be an unsuccessful effort to have his brother Erik IV canonized as a saint in the Roman Catholic Church. Christopher directly blamed his brother Abel for Eric’s murder. If Eric IV had been canonized, the murder would have excluded Abel’s sons from the succession, guaranteeing Christopher’s sons the Danish crown. King Abel’s reign was short. After hearing that the peasants in Friesland, led by Sicko Sjaerdema, Governor of Friesland, refused to pay their taxes, Abel raised an army to punish them. On June 29, 1252, 33-year-old King Abel was killed by a wheelwright named Henner on Husum Bridge near Eiderstedt, then in Friesland, now in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. Christopher was elected King of Denmark in the summer of 1252 and was crowned at Lund Cathedral on Christmas Day in 1252.
Christopher I, King of Denmark, spent much of his seven-year reign in uneasy situations. He allowed his nephew, King Abel’s son Valdemar Abelson, to be Duke of Schleswig, preventing a civil war, but Christopher then became the target of intrigue and treachery. Jakob Erlandsen, Archbishop of Lund, supported a strong and independent church. The king and the archbishop argued over many things, including the management of the clergy and tax obligations. The family of the archbishop’s mother had been supporters of King Abel. Ramifications of this were observed when Jakob Erlandsen refused to crown Christopher’s son Erik as Junior King and heir to the throne. Because of this, Jakob Erlandsen, Archbishop of Lund, was arrested and imprisoned in 1259. From prison, the archbishop excommunicated Christopher to show he would surrender to the king’s will. However, the excommunication did not affect Christopher’s religious practices. After Christopher’s death in that same year, Jakob Erlandsen was released from prison by Christopher’s widow, Queen Dowager Margrethe, the archbishop’s distant cousin.
In addition to problems with the church, Christopher had issues with his neighbors, Sweden and Norway, who allied against Denmark. In 1256 and 1258, there were peasant revolts in Denmark, but the rebellions were put down. In 1259, Prince Jaromar II of Rügen, the father-in-law of Eric Abelsson, Christopher’s nephew, the son of his brother King Abel, landed in Denmark and took Copenhagen. Before Christopher had time to react, he died on May 29, 1259, in Ribe, Denmark, at the age of forty.
Christopher died unexpectedly after taking Holy Communion. According to contemporary sources, he died after drinking poisoned communion wine from the hands of Abbot Arnfast of Ryd Abbey in revenge for his mistreatment of Archbishop Erlendsen and his oppression of the church. It is more likely that Christopher died from natural causes, but his supporters called him Krist-Offer, Christ’s sacrifice. King Christopher’s excommunication did not affect his funeral and burial arrangements. He was buried in front of the high altar of Ribe Cathedral in Ribe, Denmark
A 2015 study suggested that King Christopher I may have died of Brugada syndrome, a genetic disorder in which the electrical activity in the heart is abnormal. It increases the risk of abnormal heart rhythms and sudden cardiac death. The study showed that perhaps up to fourteen Danish kings who suddenly died at a relatively young age without being ill possibly died of Brugada Syndrome.
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Works Cited
- Autoren der Wikimedia-Projekte. (2005, September 29). König von Dänemark (1219–1259). Wikipedia.org; Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christoph_I._(D%C3%A4nemark)
- Bidragsydere til Wikimedia-projekter. (2003, February 17). Konge af Danmark (1219-1259). Wikipedia.org; Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. https://da.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christoffer_1.
- Flantzer, S. (2025). Abel, King of Denmark [Review of Abel, King of Denmark]. Unofficial Royalty. https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/abel-king-of-denmark/
- Flantzer, S. (2025). Eric IV, King of Denmark [Review of Eric IV, King of Denmark]. Unofficial Royalty. Flantzer, S. (2025). Unofficial Royalty. https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/eric-iv-king-of-denmark/
- Flantzer, Susan. (2025). Valdemar II, King of Denmark [Review of Valdemar II, King of Denmark]. Unofficial Royalty. https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/valdemar-ii-king-of-denmark/
- Flantzer, Susan. (2025). Valdemar, Junior King of Denmark [Review of Valdemar, Junior King of Denmark]. Unofficial Royalty. https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/valdemar-the-young-junior-king-of-denmark/
- Wikipedia Contributors. (2025). Christopher I of Denmark. Wikipedia; Wikimedia Foundation.
