Knud V, 1129 - 9. August 1157 ~ a daughter of king Sverker I of Sweden

Kilde:
Dansk Biografisk Lexicon
Carl Fr. Bricka
Project Runeberg
(1887-1905)

Knud V. Magnussen,1129 - 9 august 1157, King.
K., who was a son of Magnus Nielsen and Richiza,
let the Jutlanders pay tribute to him after Erik
Lam's resign (1146). The Jutlanders had also
supported his father and grandfather, and K. soon
started a fight against Svend (Eriksen),who had
the supremacy over Zealand and the provinces in
Skåne. After K. with great promises had won
archbishop Eskil, he went to Skåne, but dared not
land; he deserted Eskil and advanced instead at
Zealand; Svend persued him however, defeated him
at Slangerup and drove him back to Jutland.

In 1147 K. and Svend joined together in a crusade
against the Wends, but the expeditions only increased
the discord and hastened a new feud. K succeeded in
surprising Roskilde, but after the defeat at Tåstrup
he had to flee to Jutland the second time.(1148).
Svend now started an attack, he resided at Funen,
while his cousin Valdemar, whom he had made hertug,
won Sønderjylland, although K. had tried to secure
it in an alliance with grev Adolf II of Holstein.

Later Svend advanced in Jutland and was victorious
at Viborg (1150), and K. then took flight to his
stepfather, king Sverker I in Sweden. The ousted
king tried in vain to get assistance in his
mother's homeland Poland and by the hertug of
Sachsen, but he won archbishop Hartvig I of
Hamburg-Bremen by promising him suzerainty over
the Danish church and went with a German army
into Jutland, but suffered a defeat at Gjedbæk
south of Viborg (1151) and took flight to
Sachsen.

In a last attempt to win the kingdom K. gathered
the Danish Frisians , but Svend became again
the victor, and K. went to the German king
Frederik I . At the meeting in Merseburg (1152)
Frederik acknowledged now Svend as sole king in
Denmark, but he let him promise to give K. Zealand
as a vasalry.Svend did not keep his promise, but
he gave spread vasalries to K. instead of collected
vasalries.

Valdemar, who had worked for the agreement in
Merseburg, was now closer to K., who promised
him his halfsister Sophie in marriage and a
third of his paternal estate as a dowry.They
then went together to Svend's enemy king Sverker,
and K. married his daughter. Now Svend wanted to
kill them , and they dared to be paid tribute as
kings at Viborg thing; Svend lost his followers
and had to flee the country (1154).

K. couldn't compare with his co-king Valdemar,
and in the dividing of the kingdom in three parts
in 1157 he was the last of three, the other kings
had chosen their parts, and K. got the islands.
He still mistrusted Svend and felt deceit during
the Feast in Roskilde, he therefore said goodbye
to Valdemar and left, but he was not enough
resolute to avoid a sudden attack; Ditlev cleaved
his head, and soon after his relative Constantin
was cut down. (9 August 1157).)

- K. was an easy-going, not especially eminent
personality, but well-spoken and because of his
amiable manners very liked by his crew, where no
one would let him down in spite of his bad luck.
He had a great weakness for women, and from his
casual relations were several children: Niels
who later was honoured as a saint, Valdemar,
the famous Schleswig-bishop, who became a traitor,
the daughters Jutta, who married the Sachsen-hertug
Bernhard, Hildegard, married to prince Jarimar
of Rygen, Ingerd, married to hertug Casimir II of
Pommern-Demmin, and a daughter, married to Bugislav
III of Schlawe. It is probably a misunderstanding
that K. had a son Magnus, who was killed in Roskilde
in 1157.There are no informations about Sverker's
daughter - who was K.'s queen for about one year.

Translated from Hans Olrik's Danish text:
grethe bachmann.

Extra:
Ditlev (or actually Thetlev), --1157, son of
Edlar, was an influental German hirdmand
(housecarl) by Svend Grathe, and at Blodgildet
(the Blood Feast) in Roskilde (9. Aug. 1157)
he was the leader of the attack on the kings
Knud and Valdemar. After an arrangement with
Svend he broke into the hall with Svend's
armed men. Valdemar quickly turned off the
lights and attacked D. so they both fell to
the ground. While Valdemar - although badly
wounded - got away during the muddle, D.
jumped up and cleaved Knud's head - and
together with his men he cut down Knud's
relative Constantin. In the  battle at
Grathe hede (23 Oct. 1157) D. was captured
and in spite of his pitiful pleas he was
put on a rack and broked on the wheel.


Source:
Dansk Biografisk Lexicon
Carl Fr. Bricka
Project Runeberg
(1887-1905) 

translation grethe bachmann  ©​ copyright