Margaret Sambiria

Christopher of Denmark, elected King upon the death of his older brother Abel in the summer of 1252, had been crowned at Lund Cathedral on Christmas Day 1252.

Christopher had begun organizing the effort to have his brother Erik IV Plovpenning canonized, laying his murder directly at the feet of his other brother Abel.

If recognized by the pope, the murder will exclude Abel's sons from the succession and guarantee Christopher's own sons Denmark's crown.

This means that Christopher as a younger son tries to keep the sons of his older brothers from ruling Denmark, which goes against prevailing customs.

The king will spend most of his reign fighting his many opponents.

By allowing Abel's son, Valdemar Abelsøn, to be Duke of Schleswig, he prevents an all-out civil war, but becomes the target of intrigue and treachery.

Southern Jutland, including Schleswig and Holstein, are independent from the king's rule for a time.

Christopher also gains a ferocious enemy in the newly named Archbishop of Lund, Jacob Erlandsen, who is closely connected with Abel's family.

Erlandsen asserts his rights often at odds with the king.

King Christopher insists that the church pay taxes like any other land owner.

Bishop Jacob refuses and goes so far as to forbid peasants who live or work on church properties to give military service to King Christopher.

Erlandsen is perhaps the wealthiest man in the kingdom and insists that the secular government has no control or hold over the church, its property, or ecclesiastical personnel.

He simply excommunicates the king to show that he isn't about to surrender to the king's will.

The Kingdom of Denmark had reached a high point during the reign of Valdemar II, who had forged a Danish "Baltic Sea Empire", which by 1221 extended control from Estonia in the east to Norway in the north.

In this period, several of the "regional" law codes had been given; notably the Code of Jutland from 1241, which asserts several modern concepts like right of property; "that the king cannot rule without and beyond the law"; "and that all men are equal to the law".

Following the death of Valdemar II in 1241, the kingdom is in general decline due to internal strife and the rise of the Hanseatic League.

The competition between Valdemar’s sons—Erik IV “Plough-tax,” Abel, Duke of Schleswig, and Christopher I—will have the long term result that the southern parts of Jutland will become separated from the kingdom of Denmark and become semi-independent vassal duchies/counties.

Eric was supposedly murdered by his brother Abel in 1250; Christopher, elected King upon the death of his older brother Abel in the summer of 1252, has spent most of his reign trying to fight his many opponents.

By accepting Abel's sons as rulers of South Jutland, he has prevented their demands on the throne but in return the border district is now more or less independent.

He has also had to be reconciled with the kings of Norway and Sweden, who had been provoked by Abel's interventions.

Finally, he has had to yield to some of the political demands of the Danish magnates.

The Danehof seems to have become an institution during his rule.

Christopher’s men had arrested and humiliated the proud and self-righteous Archbishop Jakob Erlandsen after Erlandsen had refused to recognize Christopher's son, Eric, as his (Christopher's) rightful successor.

While trying to have his brother Eric canonized, Christopher finds himself excommunicated from the Catholic Church, but the excommunication has little or no effect.

Dying very "unexpectedly" and shortly after taking the Holy Communion on May 29, 1259, Christopher is buried in consecrated ground by the Bishop of Ribe.

His son succeeds him as Eric V under the auspices of his mother, the competent Queen Dowager Margaret Sambiria.

Eric's succession overrides the rights of the descendants of earlier monarchs, counter to the dictates of agnatic seniority.

However, since the reputations of the sons of Abel of Denmark are tainted by acts of fratricide and murder, it is relatively easy to ignore their claims to the throne.

Eric’s accession leads to what will be serious rivalry for generations, yet Christopher's line will be able to successfully retain their claim to the Danish throne.

Margaret quarrels with Jakob Erlendsen and her husband's nephew Eric Abelson, as well as with the counts of Holstein.

After a loss in Lohede in 1261, Margaret, together with her son, the young Eric V, are imprisoned by the Count of Holstein.

They soon manage to escape with help from Albert of Brunswick.

An unresolved rivalry between Eric V and the adherents of the former king of Denmark, Abel, forces Margaret to write Pope Urban IV in 1263, asking him to allow women to inherit the Danish throne.

This would make it possible for one of Eric's sisters to become reigning Queen of Denmark in the event of Erik V's death (he has no children as of yet).

The Pope acquiesces.

(It is never to become an issue, however: Eric's son, named after his uncle, Eric IV "Ploughpenny" will eventually succeed to the Danish throne.)