Marriages
Before his first marriage Valdemar had been betrothed to Rixa of Bavaria, daughter of the Duke of Saxony. When that arrangement fell through, he married first Margarethe of Bohemia, also known as Queen Dagmar, in 1205. She was the daughter of Premysl Ottokar, King of Bohemia, and quickly won over the hearts of the Danes. By this marriage, Valdemar had a son, Valdemar, whom he elevated as co-king at Schleswig in 1218. Unfortunately, Prince Valdemar was accidentally shot while hunting at Refsnæs in North Jutland during 1231. Queen Dagmar died in childbirth in 1212. Old folk ballads says that on her death bed she begged Valdemar to marry Kirsten, the daughter of Karl von Rise and not the "beautiful flower" Berengaria of Portugal (Bengerd). In other words she predicted Berengaria's sons' fight over the throne would bring trouble to Denmark.
After Margaret's death, in order to build good relations with Flanders, Valdemar married Berengária of Portugal in 1214. She was the orphan daughter of King Sancho I of Portugal and a sister of Ferdinand, Count of Flanders where she stayed until her marriage. She was beautiful, but so hard-hearted that she was generally hated by Danes until her early death, in childbirth, in 1221. Valdemar's two queens play a prominent role in Danish ballads and myths - Dagmar as the soft, pious and popular ideal wife and Berengária as the beautiful and haughty woman.
Read more about this topic: Valdemar II Of Denmark
Famous quotes containing the word marriages:
“The happiest two-job marriages I saw during my research were ones in which men and women shared the housework and parenting. What couples called good communication often meant that they were good at saying thanks to one another for small aspects of taking care of the family. Making it to the school play, helping a child read, cooking dinner in good spirit, remembering the grocery list,... these were silver and gold of the marital exchange.”
—Arlie Hochschild (20th century)
“If marriages were made by putting all the men’s names into one sack and the women’s names into another, and having them taken out by a blindfolded child like lottery numbers, there would be just as high a percentage of happy marriages as we have here in England.... If you can tell me of any trustworthy method of selecting a wife, I shall be happy to make use of it.”
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)