The year is 1131.
A boy is about to be born.
And it's not just any boy.
It's Valdemar, the future king of Denmark.
Valdemar comes into the world at a time when Denmark is marked by war -
- and when no one is safe. Not even a king.
But this day marks the start of a whole new era -
- in our history.
The time of the Valdemars has begun.
We're in the Early Middle Ages -
- a period in our history when we leave the Viking Age's old gods -
- and brutal raids behind us. Now Denmark will be built from within.
But it's when the king first forms an alliance with the Catholic Church -
- that Denmark really begins to blossom.
Thousands of churches are built and a new weapon -
- the pen, gives us a history of Denmark and the first laws.
But even if there's peace and order, we're still drawn into war.
This time in God's name.
This is The Story of Denmark.
The story of how a country became a country -
- and a people a people.
It's a story of a nation that experienced both staggering greatness -
- and total decline.
And about how we became who we are today -
- about kings and queens -
- peasants and nobles -
- from the distant ice ages -
- to millennia forward.
This is our story.
"With law shall one build a country," it says over this court in Copenhagen.
The words are barely 800 years old, originating from the Law of Jutland -
- and remind us that a society needs laws and rules to work.
Without them, everything would quickly end in chaos.
Today in Denmark, we have one of the most safe and fair legal systems in the world -
- and we take it for granted that the law treats everyone equally.
The same laws apply to both rich and poor -
- and to both men and women.
But it certainly hasn't always been that way.
Valdemar, who will become Valdemar the Great -
- was born into a troubled world without laws.
Only a week before his birth, his father, Knud Lavard, was murdered -
- in a bloody display of power in Denmark.
The murder launched a new and grueling civil war.
For years, powerful families fight over a country -
- that looks totally different than the Denmark we know today.
Beyond Jutland, Funen, the islands and Zealand -
- the kingdom also includes large areas in Skåne.
It's a country that's divided into smaller countries.
We have Jutland and Zealand.
It's difficult to understand today that Denmark comprised three countries -
- that made up a kingdom.
They're almost independent kingdoms within the kingdom.
There was a fundamental uncertainty as to where the power was.
It was a troubled society.
At Valdemar's birth, it's not certain who will be king in Denmark.
It's the powerful families who choose the king -
- they think is best to lead the country and secure peace and stability.
If a king can get support from the nobles in Jutland -
- they'll vote for him, and then he's king in Jutland and Funen.
If the people from Skåne backed another king, then there was civil war.
War isn't raging everywhere in Denmark.
And in the 1130s, Valdemar's mother manages to bring her son to safety.
Valdemar had the worst imaginable start. When he was born -
- the father was killed. The entire network is crumbling.
But then he's raised in the home of one of his father's good friends -
- and grows up in the Hvide house.
There's one thing that characterizes them. They're extremely rich.
It's the nobleman Asser Rig who takes care of Valdemar -
- and here he grows up with Rig's son, Absalon.
The two boys become best friends.
And maybe they already suspect at a young age -
- that they will one day be something special.
They're raised to decide everything.
They're raised to not care about the lower classes -
- with the firm knowledge that they're right.
As boys in a nobleman's family, there are two roads you can take in life.
You can become a nobleman yourself. And then there's the path Valdemar takes.
To grow up in a noble family meant a lot for a boy like Valdemar.
He learned the things that noblemen learn.
Everything from hunting to singing and learning the political game.
The other is the religious way, where you can hope to be one of the bishops -
- the Church's most significant men.
It's tempting to think the two boys may have sat and talked about -
- how they would divide their duties. And Valdemar said:
"I'll become king. And you?" And Absalon says:
"I'll take the religious road. And together we can shape this country."
Years later, when Absalon is a young man, he's sent to Paris -
- to study at one of the best universities of the time.
In the education from the Church, he doesn't just learn the Bible.
The nobleman's family realized that education is the key to success.
There were very few in Denmark who mastered the art -
- of reading and writing.
The people from the Church who could actually do that -
- possessed a great power at this time.
In the 1100s, a large part of the population still uses Viking Age runes -
- but within the Church, Latin has become the dominant language.
The sword is no longer the only tool they can acquire power with.
And writing will, in the long run, show itself to be far more effective.
While Absalon studies in Paris, civil war continues to rage in Denmark.
Valdemar has been trained for battle by the best people in the country.
In the civil war, he proves his worth on the battlefield -
- and quickly rises in rank among the noblemen.
In the 1150s, there are three men vying for power in Denmark.
Their names are Svend, Knud -
- and Valdemar.
For Valdemar the Great, it was clear that he would be king.
And it was absolutely clear that he would be the sole king.
Time after time, the three clash.
The country suffers greatly during the bloody battles.
But no one can gain control of the Danish throne.
But 26 years after the killing of Valdemar's father -
- everyone is tired of fighting.
They need to find a solution other than war, and Svend, Knud, and Valdemar -
- agree to divide the country between themselves.
In 1157, there are three kings in Denmark.
Valdemar has become king of Jutland. Absalon, who has returned from Paris -
- follows him to Roskilde, where Svend has invited the others to a party -
- to celebrate peace.
Shortly, we'll see an incident that gives one of the three kings a boost -
- that ushers in a whole new era.
And it's not just what happens, but also the way that it happens -
- that matters.
Even if the warring factions divided the land between them -
- they all had ambitions of not having just part of the kingdom -
- but being king of the whole kingdom.
Valdemar and Knud still believe they're toasting to peace -
- but Svend has other plans.
Valdemar!
Svend has lured Knud and Valdemar into a trap.
Instead of a celebration of peace, he's planned a bloodbath.
Knud and Valdemar will die so Svend can become king of Denmark.
Knud is the first king who has to die.
But Svend's ambush doesn't go as planned.
Both Absalon and Valdemar survive -
- and Svend has unintentionally given Valdemar an important story -
- about the bloody feast in Roskilde.
Because if you want to unify Denmark and be the whole country's king -
- in these years, you need more than a sword.
You need to have a strong religious narrative -
- and that's exactly what Valdemar gets with the bloody feast.
It's not that unlike the story about Jesus and Judas -
- about the clean, honest person who is betrayed by the one -
- he thought he could trust.
Valdemar flees home to Jutland, and here the story spreads -
- of Svend's unforgivable betrayal of the innocent Valdemar.
In the story, it's also said that Valdemar must have had protection -
- since he was able to survive the attack. That God watched out for him.
And with that story in his pocket, he generates so much support -
- that he can again meet Svend on the battlefield.
Now the matter will be settled once and for all.
Saxo describes how Valdemar's army progresses -
- and the ravens fly right over their spearheads.
Dense clouds of black ravens that follow them -
- because they know there will be food.
All hope for a peaceful solution is out -
- and on Grathe Heath, in the middle of Jutland, there's a decisive battle -
- where the two armies clash.
Valdemar is strongest, and forces Svend to flee.
Svend is killed, however, during the escape -
- and with that, Valdemar is now king of all of Denmark.
Valdemar has the power now, but it's over a country on its knees.
The civil war has made Denmark poor, and the noblemen -
- that supported Svend can at any time pull the rug out from under Valdemar.
So if there is to be peace, he needs a close alliance with the Church -
- because with the Church in his pocket, he won't have gotten power by the sword -
- but by being chosen by God.
And he gets the Church's support -
- when he helps Absalon become Bishop of Roskilde -
- one of the most powerful positions in the Danish Church.
And now there's peace in Denmark.
The social order that Valdemar and Absalon occupy -
- looks roughly like this.
There are those who fight. That's the king and his people.
They defend the kingdom and society against enemies outside -
- and keep the peace.
And then there's those who pray. The Church and the monastery's people -
- who pray for both the living and the dead -
- and perform sacred acts like baptizing people.
And finally there's those who work: the farmers.
The farm has two kinds of men. Those who fight -
- and those who pray -
- and both must live through their work.
If you looked down on those that were the majority, the farmers -
- then you'd have had to ask yourself: What did that mean for them?
Peace returns to the people of the country -
- both high and low.
Out in the country, lives are lived according to the seasons.
There's planting in spring and autumn.
There's the harvest in between, and the slaughtering of the animals.
They get up with the sun in the morning, they work, eat, and work -
- go to bed early, and the days pass.
But during the 1100s, the lives of the farmers will change.
It's never been so good for Danish agriculture as in the 1100s.
It's the period where it expands on all fronts.
A large area of forest is cleared, where the soil can be worked -
- and in the villages, people work closer together to cultivate the land -
- so more crops can be produced.
With the Church and king's help, several monasteries show up now.
And that will prove to be an advantage to the farmers.
Monks come from all over Europe to the new monasteries -
- and with them, they bring a lot of knowledge to the benefit of the farmers.
The monks bring the windmill.
People stop grinding grain by hand -
- as it was done for the last 5000 years.
The monks also bring herbs like thyme, lavender, and dill to the country.
And some of the monasteries end up running the first hospitals -
- when the monks take the newest European medicine with them.
And here, the farmers can seek lifesaving help.
Valdemar and Absalon leave a mark on the lives of ordinary Danes -
- and the result over the years is that the population increases.
The population increases during the 1100s and 1200s -
- but we have no idea how many there were.
New villages were being founded all the time -
- in the 1100s and 1200s.
When there are more Danes, and when more is being produced -
- the king, Valdemar, can collect more taxes.
But the new times also benefit Absalon -
- because the Church collects a tenth of the farmers' income.
More and more, the Church fills the Danes' lives.
There aren't any other institutions with a similar pervasiveness.
There aren't any in Denmark without formal contact with the Church.
In each thing the ordinary Dane did -
- there was a little grain of religiosity.
It's a silly comparison -
- but the constant presence of the smartphone today ...
In the Middle Ages, that was religion.
Religion was so essential that most of us have difficulty understanding it today.
But we can see the signs of how strong Christianity really was.
During the 1100-1200s, several thousand churches are built -
- across the whole country, many of them still standing today.
We have to imagine a Denmark that had wooden churches -
- but they're replaced by these impressive stone buildings.
A completely incomprehensible display of the Church's place in society.
You can imagine how a simple farmer in the Middle Ages -
- coming from a little dark house with a low ceiling -
- must have felt when he stepped into a church like this.
Many changes have been made to the church since it was built -
- but it must have seemed -
- as if the ceiling stretched infinitely towards Heaven.
And the light that roars in through the windows -
- must have seemed almost ... Yeah, divine.
It wouldn't be strange if he felt -
- that God is everywhere.
To understand religion in the Middle Ages, it's important to remember -
- that life here on Earth had one primary goal -
- and that was to achieve eternal life in Heaven.
But the way to Heaven went through Purgatory -
- and the time there could be shortened only by good deeds on Earth.
The greatest, most pious deed was to go on a crusade.
And in 1096, Christians go on a crusade towards The Holy Land -
- to capture Bethlehem and Jerusalem from the Muslims.
In the 1110s, European kings and the Church carry out a series of raids -
- against the heathens far from the Christian borders -
- to secure a place for themselves in Heaven, among other things.
For Valdemar and Absalon, the Crusades are a chance -
- to kill two birds with one stone.
They can cleanse themselves of sin -
- and they can gain favor with the Pope -
- and make Denmark a part of the great European community.
And a crusade is an obvious chance to finally stop a threat -
- against Valdemar and Denmark. The Wends.
The Wends are a heathen people in the north German region -
- who worship the old god Svantevit -
- that Denmark has been at war with for generations.
The Wends have pillaged the Danish coasts and burned villages to the ground.
Valdemar decides to put a stop to the Wendish attacks -
- and has strong support for the project from Absalon -
- who also has a deep desire to bring Christianity to these regions.
And so they plan a regular crusade against the Wends.
For years, Valdemar sends his army against the Wendish regions.
The heathens are killed or forced to convert to Christianity.
And where Valdemar's army goes, Absalon follows.
Absalon was as much an admiral as he was a bishop.
He was just as important when he led the fleet against the heathens -
- as when he was bishop home in Roskilde.
In 1168, Valdemar and Absalon burn the heathen stronghold Arkona -
- to the ground.
The Wendish regions become parishes under the Danish Church -
- and their largest shrine, the statue of the god Svantevit -
- ends up in the bonfire of the Danish crusaders.
In 1182, there's calm in Denmark.
The Wends are no longer an outside threat -
- and there's peace across the land.
But Valdemar the Great is dying, 51 years old.
Absalon is by his side.
We don't know what Valdemar said to Absalon -
- but the two talked not just as priest and king, but also as friends -
- about the old days, and about what they had achieved.
Looking at the life Valdemar and Absalon had together -
- it's absolutely incredible what they really accomplished.
The kingdom is secure. The Wends are defeated and subject to the Danish crown.
There's pretty much no threat to the Valdemar dynasty.
On the political front, they cleaned up all the problems.
The Church got another base through the churches they built -
- and the establishment of new monasteries.
And the king created a base for himself and his house -
- that was almost unheard of in Denmark.
There's no doubt Valdemar and Absalon left a strong mark on Denmark.
But that said, how much do we really know about them?
Our story is about two men who lived more than 800 years ago.
And we know large parts of Valdemar and Absalon's story -
- only because one man wrote it down.
Saxo.
This house is called Saxo's cell.
It may have been here that he wrote the first history of Denmark.
Saxo was a scholar and priest who used 20 years to write Denmark's history -
- from the distant past to right around Valdemar's death.
To him, we're a great nation with a long tradition of heroic deeds -
- not a little parenthesis in the European story.
But Saxo doesn't just write a story.
He creates a people.
It's there that we really got the notion of being Danes.
And it's first and foremost Saxo who writes the history of the Danes.
Having a history is essential to the experience of being a people -
- or a community.
It's when they first write that history -
- that a people grows.
So Denmark becomes Denmark through the chronicles -
- that the Church's people write.
These four sheets of parchment are one of The Royal Library's greatest treasures.
They're part of Saxo's original draft.
They were discovered in France by chance in the 1800s -
- used as a binding for another book.
Saxo writes a fantastic story -
- but he had an employer who paid him to write stories.
Absalon.
Did what Saxo wrote happen? Certainly not.
He's a sort of PR man.
He makes advertisements for the ruling family.
It's clear who the heroes are in the story. Valdemar and Absalon.
And it's also clear who the villains are.
In Saxo's story, Absalon is the star, and he describes Valdemar -
- as the country's guiding light, valiant and generous -
- loved for his kindness.
But today, historians don't know who Valdemar really was.
If someone tried to oppose him, they went away.
Saxo writes that the bloody feast in Roskilde was carefully planned by Svend -
- who wanted to assassinate Knud and Valdemar.
But no one knows if it was really the other way around.
There's only one guy who writes it. That's Saxo.
It could have been Valdemar -
- who staged the whole thing and tried to kill Knud and Svend.
Historians agree that most of what Saxo writes is true.
But the full truth about who Valdemar and Absalon were -
- and how they accomplished so much, we never learn about.
But one thing is certain. Valdemar leaves behind a Denmark -
- that is markedly different from the country he was born in.
He has a big bunch of children. Two of them will make a big mark -
- in the next chapter of our story.
Their names are Valdemar and Ingeborg.
We've left the bloody feast behind us. And we beat back the Wends -
- instead of killing one another.
We have a good connection with the Pope, who nods appreciatively at us.
Denmark, in short, becomes a country to be reckoned with.
But peace and prosperity are first and foremost a result -
- of a perpetual maintenance of important alliances.
And it's here that the women, the potential queens -
- enter the board -
- as an absolutely necessary glue between the big and powerful families.
Even if she's just arrived from Denmark -
- Ingeborg here will be married in a moment.
She's about 19 years old, can read and also surely write Latin -
- but she doesn't know French at all.
She can, however, be the link between Denmark and France's Philip.
She just has to live up to her marital obligations -
- with all that entails.
France's Philip II is Europe's most powerful man.
The Danish and French negotiators have come to an agreement -
- while Philip has been on a crusade.
It's an unusually good agreement for Ingeborg.
The dowry is only 10,000 silver marks -
- which isn't a staggering amount for Europe's most powerful king.
Philip isn't satisfied with his negotiators -
- because he'd hoped to have a Danish army unit -
- but that part of the agreement didn't work out.
It's the 10,000 silver mark dowry that he will receive.
It's now up to Ingeborg to tie the knot between Denmark and France -
- in an attempt to create a new, strong alliance in Europe.
In Nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti.
The day after the wedding night -
- Philip insists on having the marriage annulled.
Now Ingeborg is alone. She's surrounded by people speaking French -
- with a man who suddenly doesn't want her.
And it's not easy to understand why.
The scandal with Ingeborg quickly becomes known all over Europe.
Despite Philip annulling the marriage, Ingeborg stays -
- and insists on her right to marital duties and privileges.
The French king turns his back on her -
- and she's put under house arrest.
But Ingeborg will prove herself difficult to get rid of.
20 years after Valdemar the Great's death -
- his other son, also named Valdemar, is poised to be the next king.
Valdemar gets the nickname Valdemar the Victorious -
- because he continues the crusades and conquers new regions.
When Valdemar the Victorious becomes king, the Crusades aren't a finished chapter.
When Valdemar the Great managed to subdue the Wends -
- they started raiding immediately -
- deeper into the Baltic, against the heathen Baltic people -
- the countries we know today as Estonia and Latvia -
- and to a lesser degree, Lithuania.
In 1219, Valdemar the Victorious' army has come all the way to Estonia...
...and here there's a decisive battle near where Tallinn lies today.
Tallinn, that in Estonian means 'Danish city'.
But Valdemar's luck in war is about to change.
The Estonians have surprised the Danes in an ambush attack -
- and all hope is lost for Valdemar and his men.
But suddenly the heavens open and down drops a flag -
- a white cross on a red cloth.
The Danish flag.
Their luck changes, and Valdemar's army defeats the enemy.
That's what the legend says, anyway -
- but no one actually knows what happened that day in Estonia.
When you look at the sources, there's no story of any flag -
- falling down. So where does that story come from?
Flags with crosses were common in Western Europe in different colors.
Ironically enough, the Imperial German flag at this time -
- is a white cross on a red cloth.
So that could also show a connection to something in Germany.
It could show a connection to Eastern Europe.
So our most national symbol isn't even that Danish.
Wherever our flag comes from, there is hardly anything more Danish.
And every year on June 15th, Valdemar's Day, we celebrate -
- the victory in Estonia and one of the world's oldest flags, the Danish flag.
While Valdemar the Victorious has gone to war in God's name -
- Ingeborg has been under house arrest.
And it's still unclear what happened on her wedding night with Philip.
The French king tries again to have the marriage annulled -
- now with the accusation that Ingeborg bewitched him and made him impotent -
- and that's why he couldn't fulfill his marital obligations.
According to Philip, they can't be considered husband and wife.
The pact has never been consummated.
But Ingeborg won't put up with that interpretation of the wedding night.
Ingeborg insists that they've had intercourse -
- and that they've become one flesh in the Church's eyes -
- and that the marriage bond therefore cannot be broken.
In captivity, she writes a prayer to the Pope:
"My Lord and husband Philip, the French king, is persecuting me -
- and not only does he not consider me his wife -
- he wants to disrespect my youth with isolation."
There are many years of correspondence between Ingeborg and the Pope -
- and finally the Pope feels sympathy for Ingeborg's long and lonely fight.
The Pope actually goes so far in his efforts to reconcile the two -
- that to get King Philip to recognize the marriage as legitimate -
- he bans religious ceremonies all across France.
And that's very serious.
It means that parish priests -
- stop holding church services.
They can't hear confessions or conduct funerals.
They can't baptize anyone. They can't marry anyone at all.
And in that moment, it becomes a concern for all people in France.
If a prince or a nobleman wanted to get rid of his wife -
- then the Church looked the other way.
After the Ingeborg case, the Church doesn't do that anymore.
That's why a Catholic today can be divorced -
- by a secular authority, but they can't be married in the Church again.
So that's why the Ingeborg case is so important for the way -
- that ordinary people lived their lives -
- that once they entered into marriage, it was final.
Despite admonitions from the Pope to Philip to take care of things -
- Philip doesn't change course -
- but instead gets a new wife and a son.
While Ingeborg has reached a dead end -
- things look brighter for Valdemar the Victorious.
He has control of the alliances -
- and is a big success on the European stage.
So far, anyway.
Valdemar is taken to Lyø for a hunt with Henrik of Schwerin -
- a German count from one of the two areas under Danish rule.
But what Valdemar doesn't know is that Henrik has a hidden agenda.
Even if the monarchy in Denmark has never been stronger -
- it takes just one unguarded moment during a hunt -
- for everything to crumble.
Valdemar is kidnapped by a German count -
- who should have been under the Danish king's control -
- but now he's forced Valdemar to his knees in more than one sense.
From the prison in Germany, Valdemar can only watch while the kingdom -
- that he and his father built falls apart.
The ransom for Valdemar's freedom is no less than 45,000 silver marks.
The king needs to send word to his allies to obtain the amount.
And news also comes from France, where Ingeborg, after many years of fighting -
- has finally received the favor of King Philip.
As queen of France -
- she's able to help her brother financially.
And after three years of captivity, Valdemar finally gets his freedom back.
Now is Valdemar's only chance to continue the Baltic Sea expedition -
- to put the German princes in their place.
Valdemar the Victorious never regains power over the north German regions.
Instead, he returns home to Denmark to build the country from within.
The king's return has a major influence on the lives -
- that ordinary Danes live.
In the 1200s, an warm welcome isn't an unusual sight -
- because there's been almost an emotional revolution.
The Danes have heard the Christian message about love -
- in the many new churches.
And for a man and a woman who love one another -
- marriage is no longer just a practical agreement -
- between their families.
In the end of the 1100s the Church has the thought -
- that people marry for love.
Two people say "I will" and then they're married.
There are limits to how much the Danish couple can go wild -
- because in the Church's eyes, sex is only allowed for procreation -
- and there are clear rules for what they can and can't do -
- within the four walls of the home.
After 1215, all Christians need to go to confession regularly.
And in the Middle Ages, that develops into a checklist of sins.
The priest asks if you've done that or that or that.
And a lot of that applies to sexuality. You need to have sex a certain way.
And all the other ways are wrong and a sin.
The majority of Danes still live in the country in the 1200s -
- but in the time of the Valdemars, something happens that's essential -
- to how Denmark looks today.
It's at this time that a large number of our cities emerge.
It was the Vikings who brought our first cities -
- but in the 1100-1200s, new ones sprout up like never before.
And the old cities experience a previously unseen blossoming.
The farmers go to the market every week, where they trade and sell.
And as we trade more and more with foreign countries -
- new goods like silk, rice, and exotic spices show up in the cities.
It's fascinating that the cities that really got wind in their sails -
- are the cities we have today.
We can walk the same streets people did 800 years ago.
If you come from Skive, Vejle, Nyborg, Holbæk, or Køge -
- then you live in one of the cities erected under the Valdemars -
- which grew because the two kings succeeded -
- in securing stability in Denmark 800 years ago.
In the beginning of the 1200s, cities grow bigger and stronger -
- and for Valdemar the Victorious, that means he can collect more taxes.
Money that can be used to create the society he dreams of.
A Denmark that becomes not only richer -
- but where law and order prevail and everyone follows the same rules.
And it's now that we get our first written laws.
We get the first written laws in the 1100-1200s.
It begins as property laws that cover a defined area -
- like Zealand or Skåne.
It controlled the relationship between generations.
The household, inheritance, transfer, and ownership.
It regulates the village.
It regulates the process Danes use to settle matters.
And it regulates what we today would call criminal justice.
But it doesn't mean the laws are respected.
There are no police, and for a poor woman in the country -
- the trip home to the farm can go horribly wrong.
Rape is dealt with in one of our first laws.
The laws don't contain the form of justice we know today.
Because a rape isn't a crime against the woman -
- but instead against her husband.
Rape was seen as a kind of destruction of the husband's property.
It's an extreme objectification of an individual, a woman.
But you can see with the influence of the Church that focus shifts more -
- so that rape becomes not destruction of a thing -
- but a violation of an individual.
The woman becomes an independent victim -
- in that specific situation.
That the perception of women changes is largely due to the Church -
- having a greater and greater influence on Valdemar the Victorious' laws.
And that applies not least when, in 1241, he puts the crowning glory -
- on his work, approving the Law of Jutland.
Valdemar approves the law in this place in Vordingborg.
In the foreword to the law, you can read the famous words:
"With law shall the country be built."
Experts disagree on whether the Law of Jutland was another property law -
- or if it was actually the first law for the whole Danish kingdom.
But the Danes could see a whole new form of justice -
- built on those principles that the Church's people brought.
They begin interrogating witnesses and the accused, asking if anyone saw it -
- and gathering testimonies before making a decision.
The case needs to be investigated. The truth needs to be found.
With the Church's influence, we move towards the idea of justice -
- that begins to resemble what we consider justice today.
In the Law of Jutland, we find in the foreword -
- that there is nothing so good as the truth.
Just after approving the Law of Jutland, Valdemar the Victorious dies.
Valdemar the Victorious is buried under this stone -
- and around him lies a good part of his family -
- among others, his father, Valdemar the Great.
Two kings who stood at the forefront a development -
- that markedly changed Danes' lives and laid a big part of the foundation -
- of the Denmark we know today.
But it won't be long -
- before the foundation begins to crack.
In the next chapter of The Story of Denmark: the Late Middle Ages.
A time when the plague hits hard -
- and when noblemen and kings fight for power.
But now a young Danish prince is ready to take the throne.
His name is Valdemar Atterdag.
Atterdag will unify Denmark again, but it's his daughter, Margrete -
- who will prove to be one of the greatest leaders of the time.