Margaret Sambiria
Encyclopedia
Christopher I of Denmark
Christopher I was King of Denmark between 1252 and 1259. He was the son of Valdemar II of Denmark by his wife, Infanta Berengária of Portugal. He succeeded his brothers Eric IV Plovpenning and Abel of Denmark on the throne. Christopher was elected King upon the death of his older brother Abel in...
, and acted as regent for Eric V of Denmark
Eric V of Denmark
Eric V "Klipping" was King of Denmark and son of Christopher I. Until 1264 he ruled under the auspices of his mother, the competent Queen Dowager Margaret Sambiria. Between 1261 and 1262, Eric was a prisoner in Holstein following a military defeat...
. In Danish
Danish language
Danish is a North Germanic language spoken by around six million people, principally in the country of Denmark. It is also spoken by 50,000 Germans of Danish ethnicity in the northern parts of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, where it holds the status of minority language...
she is also known as queen Margrethe Sprænghest.
Family
She was born around 1230 to duke Sambor II of the ruling SamboridesSamborides
The Samborides or House of Sobiesław were a ruling dynasty in the historic region of Pomerania. They were first documented about 1155 as governors in the eastern Pomerelian lands serving the royal Piast dynasty of Poland, and from 1227 ruled as autonomous princes until 1294, at which time the...
family of Slavic
Slavic peoples
The Slavic people are an Indo-European panethnicity living in Eastern Europe, Southeast Europe, North Asia and Central Asia. The term Slavic represents a broad ethno-linguistic group of people, who speak languages belonging to the Slavic language family and share, to varying degrees, certain...
(Wendish
Wends
Wends is a historic name for West Slavs living near Germanic settlement areas. It does not refer to a homogeneous people, but to various peoples, tribes or groups depending on where and when it is used...
) Cassubian
Kashubians
Kashubians/Kaszubians , also called Kashubs, Kashubes, Kaszubians, Kassubians or Cassubians, are a West Slavic ethnic group in Pomerelia, north-central Poland. Their settlement area is referred to as Kashubia ....
s and his wife Mechtild of Mecklenburg. They held a lordship (then treated as duchy or principality) of Pomerelia.
Her paternal grandparents were Mestwin I (Mścisław) of Pomerelia
Pomerelia
Pomerelia is a historical region in northern Poland. Pomerelia lay in eastern Pomerania: on the southern shore of the Baltic Sea and west of the Vistula and its delta. The area centered on the city of Gdańsk at the mouth of the Vistula...
and his wife Swinislawa. Yet more interesting from Danish viewpoint were Margaret's maternal grandparents, who were Henry II of Mecklenburg
Henry II of Mecklenburg
Henry II, Duke of Mecklenburg, nicknamed the Lion was regent of Mecklenburg from 1287 to 1298, co-regent from 1298 to 1302 and alone again from 1302 to 1329.- Life :...
, Prince of Rostock, and his wife Lady Kristina from Scania
Scania
Scania is the southernmost of the 25 traditional non-administrative provinces of Sweden, constituting a peninsula on the southern tip of the Scandinavian peninsula, and some adjacent islands. The modern administrative subdivision Skåne County is almost, but not totally, congruent with the...
, who according to newest research was a daughter of the mighty Danish Galen clan, magnates in Eastern Denmark, and related with the Hvide
Hvide
Hvide was a medieval Danish clan, and afterwards in early modern era a Danish noble surname of presumably one surviving branch of leaders of that clan. Before 16th century it was not used as surname...
clan of Zealand.
Margaret received her first name, then yet relatively rare in North Germany and Poland (Margaret is actually a Greek name) in honor of her maternal Scandinavian relations (where the name Margaret came in the late 11th century with the family of Inge I of Sweden
Inge I of Sweden
Inge the Elder was a King of Sweden.-Biography:Inge was the son of the former King Stenkil and a Swedish princess. Inge shared the rule of the kingdom with his probably elder brother Halsten Stenkilsson, but little is known with certainty of Inge's reign...
), presumably of her aunt (countess of Schwerin) and great-aunt (princess of Rugia).
Queen consort
She was, in 1248, married to prince Christopher, the youngest son of Valdemar II of DenmarkValdemar II of Denmark
Valdemar II , called Valdemar the Victorious or Valdemar the Conqueror , was the King of Denmark from 1202 until his death in 1241. The nickname Sejr is a later invention and was not used during the King's own lifetime...
and Berengária of Portugal
Berengária of Portugal
Berengaria of Portugal , was a Portuguese infanta, later Queen consort of Denmark. She was the fifth daughter of Portuguese King Sancho I and Dulce of Aragon. She married Danish King Valdemar II and was the mother of Danish kings Eric IV, Abel and Christopher I.-Background:Berengaria was the...
. Her husband ascended the throne of Denmark in 1252 as Christopher I of Denmark
Christopher I of Denmark
Christopher I was King of Denmark between 1252 and 1259. He was the son of Valdemar II of Denmark by his wife, Infanta Berengária of Portugal. He succeeded his brothers Eric IV Plovpenning and Abel of Denmark on the throne. Christopher was elected King upon the death of his older brother Abel in...
by the then succession custom which followed so called agnatic seniority
Agnatic seniority
Agnatic seniority is a patrilineal principle of inheritance where the order of succession to the throne prefers the monarch's younger brother over the monarch's own sons. A monarch's children succeed only after the males of the elder generation have all been exhausted...
and Margaret was crowned together with him.
Regent
Her husband died on 29 May 1259 (rumored to have been poisoned). Their son and heir Eric V of DenmarkEric V of Denmark
Eric V "Klipping" was King of Denmark and son of Christopher I. Until 1264 he ruled under the auspices of his mother, the competent Queen Dowager Margaret Sambiria. Between 1261 and 1262, Eric was a prisoner in Holstein following a military defeat...
was a minor and Margaret was made regent, a position she held until 1264.
Eric's succession overrode 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
Abel of Denmark
Abel of Denmark was Duke of Schleswig from 1232 to 1252 and King of Denmark from 1250 until his death in 1252. He was the son of Valdemar II by his second wife, Infanta Berengária of Portugal, and brother to Eric IV and Christopher I....
were tainted by acts of fratricide and murder, it was relatively easy to ignore their claims to the throne. Even so, during his reign, Christopher I made sure that his own son succeeded. The accession of Christopher's son, Eric V led to serious rivalry for generations, yet Christopher's line was able to successfully retain their claim to the Danish throne.
Margaret quarreled with Jakob Erlendsen and her husband's nephew Eric Abelson, as well as with the counts of Holstein
Holstein
Holstein is the region between the rivers Elbe and Eider. It is part of Schleswig-Holstein, the northernmost state of Germany....
. After a loss in Lohede in 1261, Margaret, together with her son, the young Eric V were imprisoned by the Count of Holstein. They soon managed to escape with help from Albert of Brunswick.
In 1263, an unresolved rivalry between Eric V and the adherents of the former king of Denmark, Abel
Abel of Denmark
Abel of Denmark was Duke of Schleswig from 1232 to 1252 and King of Denmark from 1250 until his death in 1252. He was the son of Valdemar II by his second wife, Infanta Berengária of Portugal, and brother to Eric IV and Christopher I....
, forced Margaret to write Pope Urban IV
Pope Urban IV
Pope Urban IV , born Jacques Pantaléon, was Pope, from 1261 to 1264. He was not a cardinal, and there have been several Popes since him who have not been Cardinals, including Urban V and Urban VI.-Biography:...
, 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 had no children as of yet). Urban IV acquiesced.
In her own time, Margaret had a reputation as a competent and enlightened regent. Her nicknames, "Sprænghest" (Burst-horse) and "Sorte Grete," (Black Greta) reveal a strong-willed, energetic personality. She died in December 1282 and was buried in the church of the Cistercian Doberan Abbey
Doberan Abbey
Doberan Abbey is a former Cistercian monastery in Bad Doberan, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. The church continues in use as Doberan Minster ....
on the Baltic Sea
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is a brackish mediterranean sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and...
coast of Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
.
Children
Margaret and Christopher had three children:- Matilda (died 23 April 1299/19 November 1300), married to Albert III, Margrave of Brandenburg-Salzwedel.
- Margaret (died 1306), married count John II of Holstein-Kiel.
- Eric V of DenmarkEric V of DenmarkEric V "Klipping" was King of Denmark and son of Christopher I. Until 1264 he ruled under the auspices of his mother, the competent Queen Dowager Margaret Sambiria. Between 1261 and 1262, Eric was a prisoner in Holstein following a military defeat...
(1249–1286).