Matilda of Holstein

Matilda of Holstein
File:Matilda of Denmark effigy 2009.jpg
Queen consort of Denmark
Tenure	1250–1252
Coronation	1 November 1250
Born	1220/25
Died	1288 Kiel
Burial	Varnhem Abbey
Spouse	Abel of Denmark Birger Jarl
Issue	Valdemar III, Duke of Schleswig Sophia, Princess of Anhalt-Bernburg Eric I, Duke of Schleswig Abel, Lord of Langeland
House	House of Schauenburg (by birth) House of Estridsen (by marriage) House of Bjelbo (by marriage)
Father	Adolf IV, Count of Holstein
Mother	Heilwig of Lippe
Religion	Roman Catholicism

Matilda of Holstein or Mechthild (1220 or 1225 – 1288 in Kiel) was a Danish queen consort, married to King Abel of Denmark and later to Birger Jarl, Regent of Sweden.

Life

Matilda was the daughter of Adolf IV, Count of Holstein, and Heilwig of Lippe. In 25 April 1237 she was married to Abel of Denmark in Schleswig. When Abel became king in 1250, she was crowned with him in Roskilde on 1 November.

When Abel died in 1252, she was forced to leave Denmark and enter a convent. She managed to get her son Valdemar released from the captivity of the Archbishop of Cologne and fought for the inheritance of her children in the Duchy of Schleswig. In 1260, she pawned the areas Eider and Schlei in southern Denmark to her brothers. She made a pact with Jacob Erlandsen, archbishop of Lund, and then broke her vows of the convent by marrying the Swedish regent Birger Jarl in 1261. After the death of Birger in 1266, she moved to Kiel.

In 1288, shortly before her death, she gave up Eider and Schlei to her brothers. She was unpopular in Denmark, where she was called the daughter of the Devil and accused of destroying letters from the Pope and emperor to King Valdemar II.

Issue

Queen Matilda bore her first husband three sons and a daughter:

• Valdemar III (1238–1257); Duke of Schleswig 1254–1257
• Sophie (born 1240, date of death unknown)
• Eric I (c. 1241 – 27 May 1272); Duke of Schleswig 1260–1272
• Abel (1252–1279)

Ancestry

Family of Matilda of Holstein

16. Adolf I, Count of Holstein               8. Adolf II, Count of Holstein                       17. Hildewa               4. Adolf III, Count of Holstein                             18. Sizzo III, Count of Schwarzburg-Käfernburg               9. Mechthild of Schwarzburg                       18. Gisela of Berg               2. Adolf IV, Count of Holstein                                   20. Burchard I of Querfurt, Burgrave of Magdeburg               10. Burchard II of Querfurt, Burgrave of Magdeburg                       5. Adelheid of Querfurt                             22. Lambert I, Count of Tonna               11. Mathilde of Gleichen                       1. Matilda of Holstein                                         24. Herman I, Lord of Lippe               12. Bernhard II, Lord of Lippe                       6. Hermann II, Lord of Lippe                             26. Otto, Count of Are-Hostaden               13. Heilwig of Are-Hostaden                       27. Adelheid of Hostaden               3. Heilwig of Lippe                                   28. Henry I, Count of Tecklenburg               14. Simon I, Count of Tecklenburg                       29. Eilika of Oldenburg               7. Oda of Tecklenburg                             30. Eberhard I, Count of Berg-Altena               15. Oda of Berg-Altena                       31. Adelheid of Arnsberg

References

• Dansk Biografisk Lexikon, volume 11, pp. 205–206, Copenhagen 1897
• Annales Stadenses 1237–1241, MGH SS XVI, sida 363–367

Matilda of Holstein House of Schauenburg Born: 1220s Died: 1288
Danish royalty
Preceded by Jutta of Saxony	Queen consort of Denmark 1250–1252	Succeeded by Margaret Sambiria