Valdemar the Great #52ancestors

Valdemar I of Denmark (14 January 1131 – 12 May 1182), also known as Valdemar the Great, was King of Denmark from 1157 until his death in 1182.   
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valdemar_I_of_Denmark     

He was the son of Canute Lavard, a chivalrous and popular Danish prince, who was the eldest son of Eric I of Denmark. Valdemar's father was murdered by Magnus the Strong days before the birth of Valdemar; his mother, Ingeborg of Kiev, daughter of Mstislav I of Kiev and Christina Ingesdotter of Sweden, named him after her grandfather, Vladimir Monomakh of Kiev.

As an heir to the throne, and with his rivals quickly gaining power, he was raised in the court of Asser Rig of Fjenneslev, together with Asser's sons, Absalon and Esbern Snare, who would become his trusted friends and ministers.

In 1146, when Valdemar was fifteen years old, King Erik III Lamb abdicated and a civil war erupted. The pretenders to the throne were: Sweyn III Grathe, son of Eric II Emune, son of Eric I. Canute V, son of Magnus the Strong who was the son of King Niels, who was the brother of Erik I. Valdemar himself held Jutland, at leastSchleswig, as his possession. The civil war lasted the better part of ten years.

In 1157, the three agreed to part the country in three among themselves. Sweyn hosted a great banquet for Canute, Absalon, and Valdemar during which he planned to dispose of all of them. Canute was killed, but Absalon and Valdemar escaped. Valdemar returned to Jutland. Sweyn quickly launched an invasion, only to be defeated by Valdemar in the Battle of Grathe Heath. He was killed during flight, supposedly by a group of peasants who stumbled upon him as he was fleeing from the battlefield. Valdemar, having outlived all his rival pretenders, became the sole King of Denmark.

Bishop Absalon topples the god Svantevit at Arkona

In 1158 Absalon was electedBishop of Roskilde, and Valdemar made him his chief friend and advisor. He reorganized and rebuilt war-torn Denmark. At Absalon's instigation he declared war upon the Wends who were raiding the Danish coasts. They inhabited Pomerania and the island of Rügen in theBaltic Sea. In 1168 the Wendish capital, Arkona, was taken, and the Wends became Christians and subject to Danish suzerainty. Danish influence reached into Pomerania.

Valdemar's reign saw the rise of Denmark, which reached its zenith under his second son Valdemar II.    

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Valdemar I of Denmark is my 23rd great grandfather.
You 
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your father →  Rufus S. Nichols 
his father →  Tressie (King) Nichols 
his mother →  Michael O. King 
her father →  Margaret (Wright) King 
his mother → James Wingfield Wright 
her father →  Mary Whitledge Grant 
his mother →  William Grant, of Crichie 
her father →  Elizabeth Grant 
his mother → William Leslie, X. Baron of Balquhain 
her father →  Janet "Jane" Forbes, Countess of Athlon 
his mother →  John Forbes, 6th Lord Forbes 
her father → William "Gray Willie" Forbes, 3rd Lord Forbes 
his father →  Egidia Forbes 
his mother →  Marjorie Fraser 
her mother →  Alexander Fraser of Lovat 
her father → Hugh Fraser, 3rd of Lovat 
his father →  Alexander Fraser, 3rd of Lovat & Brotherton 
his father →  Margaret of Orkney 
his mother →  Magnus Orkney, V 
her father → NN Magnusdatter (Orkney), Prinsesse av Norge 
his mother →  Dronning Ingeborg (Eriksdatter) 
her mother →  Konge af Danmark Erik IV Plovpenning 
her father → King Valdemar II of Denmark 
his father →  King Valdemar I of Denmark 
his father 

http://www.geni.com/people/King-Valdemar-I-of-Denmark/5305294636990124817