King Valdemar Atterdag, conqueror

During the first decade of the 1300s, Denmark was a country in a state of decay which for eight years had no king. Almost all the land had been pledged to German princes. The murder of one such prince in 1340 paved the way for the election of Valdemar as the country’s king that same year. He redeemed pledges, formed alliances, waged war and restored and united Denmark. He was the king of Denmark until his death in 1375.

It is not known how he gained the epithet “Atterdag”. One interpretation is “A New Dawn” and that the expression meant that there would be a new dawn for Denmark. It is actually more likely that it refers to one of the king’s favourite expressions, “des dages”, meaning “what times we live in!”

In 1389, Valdemar’s daughter Margareta became queen of Sweden, Denmark and Norway, and thereby one of the most powerful women in Scandinavian history.