by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2025
Valdemar IV, King of Denmark; Credit – Wikipedia
Born in 1320 in Tikøb, Helsingør, Denmark, Valdemar IV, King of Denmark, reigned from 1340 to 1375. He was the youngest of the six children and the second of the two sons of Christopher II, King of Denmark and Euphemia of Pomerania. Valdemar IV’s paternal grandparents were Eric V, King of Denmark, and Agnes of Brandenburg. His maternal grandparents were Bogislaw IV, Duke of Pomerania, and his second wife, Margarete of Rügen.
Valdemar IV had five older siblings who all predeceased him:
In 1326, a coalition of German rulers and Danish rebels led by Gerhard III, Count of Holstein-Rendsburg, dethroned Valdemar IV’s father, King Christopher II. The Danish nobility appointed Gerhard’s twelve-year-old nephew, Valdemar V, Duke of Schleswig, as Valdemar III, King of Denmark, with Gerhard serving as Regent. King Christopher II was forced to abdicate and was exiled. Because of this and the subsequent imprisonments and deaths of his father and two elder brothers, Valdemar IV spent most of his childhood in exile in Bavaria at the court of Ludwig IV, Holy Roman Emperor. For eight years after Christopher II’s death, known as the Kingless Period, Denmark had no king and was controlled by the counts. After Gerhard III, Count of Holstein-Rendsburg, was assassinated in 1340, Valdemar IV was proclaimed King of Denmark at the Viborg Assembly on June 24, 1340.
Helvig of Schleswig, Valdemar IV’s wife; Credit – Wikipedia
In 1340, at Sønderborg Castle, Valdemar IV married Helvig of Schleswig, the daughter of Eric II, Duke of Schleswig and Adelaide of Holstein-Rendsburg. In 1355, Queen Helvig entered Esrum Abbey near Hillerød, Denmark, as a lay sister after being replaced by her husband’s mistress, Tove. Queen Helvig died circa 1374 and was buried at Esrum Abbey.
Effigy of Valdemar IV’s daughter Margrethe I, Queen of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden in her own right; Credit – Wikipedia
Valdemar IV and Helvig had six children; however, all but their very formidable daughter, Margrethe, predeceased their father:
- Christopher of Denmark, Duke of Lolland (1341 – 1363), unmarried, died at age 22
- Margrethe of Denmark (1345 – 1350), died in childhood
- Ingeborg of Denmark (1347 – 1370), married Heinrich III, Duke of Mecklenburg, had three daughters and one son
- Katrine of Denmark (born and died 1349); died in infancy
- Valdemar Denmark (born and died 1350); died in infancy
- Margarethe I, Queen of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden (1353 – 1412), married King Haakon VI of Norway and Sweden, had one son, Olaf II, King of Denmark/Olaf IV, King of Norway. Margarethe I was Queen of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden in her own right (reigned in Denmark 1387 – 1412, reigned in Norway 1388 – 1412, reigned in Sweden 1389 – 1412)
The first Danish king to rule from Copenhagen, Valdemar IV, reunited Denmark after the Kingless Period, when the country was in debt and mortgaged, primarily to the Holstein counts, Gerhard III, Count of Holstein-Rendsburg, and Johann III, Count of Holstein-Plön. During his reign, Valdemar IV worked to repay the debt and reclaim Denmark’s land from the Holstein counts by using his might, his wife’s dowry, and taxes collected from the peasants. The bubonic plague came to Denmark during Valdemar IV’s reign. It is estimated that from 1349 to 1350, 33% to 66% of the Danish population died from the bubonic plague. Valdemar IV was one of the most important Danish medieval kings. Contemporary sources give the impression that Valdemar IV was an intelligent, cynical, reckless, and clever ruler with a talent for both policy and economy.
Valdemar IV, King of Denmark, died on October 24, 1375, aged fifty, at his hunting lodge, Gurre Castle, now in ruins, in North Zealand, Denmark. At his request, Valdemar IV was initially buried in the chapel of Vordingborg Castle, his favorite residence, now in ruins. In 1377, Valdemar IV’s remains were transferred by his daughter Margarethe to Sorø Abbey, a Benedictine Abbey on the island of Zealand in Denmark, where his parents and Margarethe’s son Olaf II, King of Denmark/Olaf IV, King of Norway, are also buried.
Valdemar IV’s grandson, Olaf II, King of Denmark and Olaf IV, King of Norway; Credit – Wikipedia
Valdemar IV, King of Denmark was succeeded by his five-year-old grandson, Olaf, with his mother, Margrethe, acting as Regent of Denmark due to her son’s young age. Four years later, on September 11, 1380, Margrethe’s husband, King Haakon VI of Norway, died. Their ten-year-old son Olaf, was now also King of Norway, and his mother, Margrethe, was also Regent of Norway. On August 3, 1387, Margrethe’s sixteen-year-old son Olaf II, King of Denmark/Olaf IV, King of Norway, died.
Valdemar IV’s very capable daughter, Margrethe of Denmark, Queen of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden; Credit – Wikipedia
During her son’s reign, Margrethe had been a very capable Regent of Denmark and Norway. After her son’s death, she used all her diplomatic skills and was named Queen of Denmark on August 10, 1387, and Queen of Norway on February 2, 1388. Margrethe joined forces with the Swedish nobles who rose against the unpopular King Albert of Sweden, King Haakon VI’s cousin, who had taken the Swedish throne in 1364. At a meeting at Dalaborg Castle in Sweden, now in ruins, in March 1388, the Swedish nobles proclaimed Margrethe to be Sweden’s “sovereign lady and rightful ruler”. The founder of the Kalmar Union, which united the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden under a single monarch from 1397 to 1523, Margrethe I, Queen of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, was called “the first great ruling queen in European history” by Norwegian-American author, historian, and college professor Knut Gjerset.
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Works Cited
- Autoren der Wikimedia-Projekte. (2005). König von Dänemark. Wikipedia.org; Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waldemar_IV._(D%C3%A4nemark)
- Bidragsydere til Wikimedia-projekter. (2003). Konge af Danmark (1320-1375). Wikipedia.org; Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. https://da.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valdemar_Atterdag
- Flantzer, Susan. (2025). Christopher II, King of Denmark. Unofficial Royalty. https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/christopher-ii-king-of-denmark/
- Flantzer, Susan. (2025). Haakon VI, King of Norway, King of Sweden. Unofficial Royalty. https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/haakon-vi-king-of-norway-king-of-sweden/
- Flantzer, Susan. (2025). Margrethe I, Queen of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway. Unofficial Royalty. https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/margrethe-i-queen-of-denmark-norway-and-sweden-2/
- Wikipedia Contributors. (2024). Valdemar IV of Denmark. Wikipedia; Wikimedia Foundation.
