Background
He was the second son of King Valdemar I and Sophia Valadarsdattir, a daughter of Richeza of Poland, and a West Russian Prince. When Valdemar's father died, young Valdemar was only twelve years old. He was named Duke of Southern Jutland (Latin: dux slesvicensis, literally Sleswickian duke), represented by the regent Bishop Valdemar Knudsen (1182–1193).
Bishop Valdemar was an ambitious man and disguised his own ambitions as young Valdemar's. When in 1192 Bishop Valdemar was named Prince-Archbishop of Bremen, his plot to overthrow King Canute VI with the help of German nobility and sit on Denmark's throne himself was revealed.
Duke Valdemar realized the threat Bishop Valdemar presented. He invited the archbishop to meet him in Aabenraa in 1192. Then the bishop fled to Swedish Norway to avoid arrest. The following year Bishop Valdemar organised - supported by the Hohenstaufens - a fleet of 35 ships and harried the coasts of Denmark, claiming the Danish throne for himself. In 1193 King Canute VI of Denmark captured him. Bishop Valdemar stayed in captivity in Nordborg (1193–1198) and then in the tower at Søborg Castle on Zealand until 1206. Bishop Valdemar was released upon the initiative of the Danish Queen Dagmar and Pope Innocent III and after swearing, never to interfere again in Danish affairs.
Young Valdemar faced another threat from Count Adolph of Rendsburg. Adolph tried to stir up other German counts to take southern Jutland from Denmark to assist Bishop Valdemar's plot to take the throne. With the bishop in prison, Duke Valdemar went after Count Adolph and with his own troop levies march south and captured Adolph's new fortress at Rendsburg. He defeated and captured the count in the Battle of Stellau in 1201 and sent him to sit in a cell next to Bishop Valdemar. Two years later Duke Valdemar let Count Adolph buy his way out of prison due to an illness by ceding all of Schleswig north of the Elbe to Valdemar. In November 1202, Duke Valdemar's elder brother, King Canute VI died unexpectedly at the age of 40, leaving no heirs.
Read more about this topic: Valdemar II Of Denmark
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