{{Short description|Queen of Sweden from 1298 to 1318}} {{Infobox royalty | image = | succession = Queen consort of Sweden | reign = 1298–1318 | reign-type = Tenure | coronation = 2 December 1302 | spouse = Birger of Sweden | issue = | house = House of Estridsen | father = Eric V of Denmark | mother = Agnes of Brandenburg | birth_date = 1277–1280/1282 | birth_place = Denmark | death_date = 2 March 1341 | death_place = St. Peter's Abbey, Næstved | burial_place = St. Bendt's Church, Ringsted }} '''Martha of Denmark''' (after 1277 – 2 March or 3 October 1341) was Queen of Sweden by marriage to King Birger. She was the daughter of King Eric V of Denmark and sister of King Eric VI. She was given the name {{lang|da|Margrete}} at birth, but in Sweden was called {{lang|sv|Märta}}, and has been known to history by that name. She was a politically influential queen and an important figure in the Håtuna games and the Nyköping Banquet.
==Life== ===Early life=== Martha, the daughter of King Eric V of Denmark and Agnes of Brandenburg and the sister of King Eric VI, was born sometime between 1277 and 1282. Her elder brother Christopher was born in 1277,{{Sfn|Wilhelmsson|2024}} and by 1282, peaceful relations had been restored between Denmark and Sweden, leading to agreement that Princess Martha would marry Prince Birger, the heir to the Swedish throne.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Märta|first=Hans|last=Gillingstam |date=1987–1989|url=https://sok.riksarkivet.se/SBL/Presentation.aspx?id=8651 |access-date=2024-08-25 |website=Svenskt Biografiskt Lexikon}}</ref> According to Petrus Olai, this agreement was made as early as 1280.{{Sfn|Wilhelmsson|2024}} The papal dispensation for the marriage, necessary due to the previous family ties, was obtained in 1284.<ref name=":0" /> The alliance between the royal dynasties of Denmark and Sweden was further strengthened in 1288, when a marriage agreement was made in Helsingborg between Martha's brother, King Eric VI, and her future sister-in-law, Ingeborg Magnusdotter. Their marriage was celebrated in 1296.<ref name=":0" />
According to the ''Erikskrönikan'', Martha left Denmark already after her engagement was declared, and spent the rest of her childhood raised at the Swedish royal court until her wedding.<ref name=":0" /> It is not known exactly when she left Denmark, but it is considered likely that she did so prior to the death of her father in 1286.<ref name=":0" />
===Queen=== The wedding between Martha and Birger was celebrated in Stockholm 25 November 1298.<ref name=":0" /> The wedding celebrations are described as very elaborate, with a procession of knights, amateur theater by nobles and the king naming his brothers dukes. She was praised when she asked for no dower other than the freedom of Magnus Algotsson, a noble arrested for involvement in an abduction of a bride in 1288.<ref name=":0" /> Regardless, she was given a dower land consisting of Fjärdhundraland (Western Uppland) and Enköping as her personal fief, which was granted to her in 1300.<ref name=":0" /> She was crowned Queen of Sweden in Söderköping 2 December 1302.<ref name=":0" />
Märta and Birger grew up together; their marriage is described as a happy one, and she is credited with a large influence over him and the affairs of state and is described as politically active.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Öhman |first=Christer |title=Helgon, bönder och krigare: berättelser ur den svenska medeltidens historia |publisher=Rabén Prisma |year=1994 |isbn=9789151826677 |location=Stockholm |language=sv |trans-title=Saints, farmers and warriors. Stories from Sweden's medieval history}}</ref> In 1304, Queen Martha as well as her sister-in-law Queen Ingeborg attended the border meeting between King Birger and her brother King Eric at Knäred or Fagerdala.<ref name=":0" /> At this occasion, her eldest son Magnus was proclaimed heir to the throne.
On 29 September 1306, Martha and Birger were invited to festivities and then captured by the king's brothers Duke Eric and Duke Valdemar, during the so-called Håtuna games. They were held captive at Nyköping Castle, while the dukes seized power.<ref name=":0" /> Two of their sons and a daughter were imprisoned with them, while their eldest son Magnus managed to escape to Denmark.<ref name=":0" /> In a treaty between her brother, the King of Denmark, and the dukes the following year, her brothers-in-law guaranteed her possession of her dower, and in 1308, Martha and Birger were released.<ref name=":0" />
Queen Martha reportedly played a significant part in the famous Nyköping Banquet in 1317, where the king and queen retaliated against the dukes and had the king's brothers invited to festivities, after which they were imprisoned and died in the dungeons; she is in fact pointed out as the creator of the plot.<ref name=":1" /> According to ''Erikskrönikan'', Queen Martha and the king's official Johan Brunkow initiated the arrest of the dukes,<ref name=":0" /> while the chronicle of Lübeck claims that she influenced Birger supported by her brother the King of Denmark.<ref name=":0" /> ''Erikskrönikan'' describes how the queen received her brothers-in-law with assurances that she loved them as if they were her brothers by blood.<ref name=":1" /> The chronicle mentions her participating in the festivities: "Everyone danced all the way from indoors to outdoors; the queen had never looked so happy before".<ref name=":1" /> Her good mood was seen as a cruel sign of excitement that she and her spouse were to have their revenge for the Håtuna games, as she was aware of the plan to capture the dukes in the middle of the festivities.<ref name=":1" /> The murder of the dukes, however, led to a conflict with the forces of their widows, who defeated the king's forces in 1318. This forced the king and queen to flee to Gotland, and from there to Zealand in Denmark. Magnus, the eldest son of Queen Martha and heir to the throne, remained behind to lead the defense against the dukes' men but was captured and imprisoned. He was later executed by beheading after the son of one of the dukes was proclaimed king of Sweden.<ref name=":0" /><ref name="sbl">{{Cite web |last=Gillingstam |first=Hans |year=1982{{endash}}1984 |title=Magnus |url=https://sok.riksarkivet.se/sbl/Presentation.aspx?id=10144 |access-date=2025-01-04 |website=Svenskt Biografiskt Lexikon}}</ref>
===Exile=== In Denmark, Birger and Martha were accompanied by their daughters Agnes and Katarina. On 4 September 1318, King Eric of Denmark granted Martha the manor of Hjarup in Jutland for her income. The following year, her brother Eric died and was succeeded by her younger brother Christopher II of Denmark, with whom she was reportedly not on as good terms as with her elder brother, possibly because Christopher had earlier sided with Birger's brothers against Eric.<ref name=":0" /> Christopher II granted Martha and Birger the manor of Spegerborg in Skælskør on Zealand, along with two parishes.<ref name=":0" />
Martha was widowed in 1321. It appears that she was forced to accompany King Christopher when he was exiled to Germany in 1326 and was unable to return for three years.<ref name=":0" /> In 1329, she was guaranteed the return of her property. After Christopher II's death in 1332, Denmark was disrupted by interregnum. Nothing is known of Martha during these years, but at some point during her later years, she retired to St. Peder's Priory in Naestved in Zealand.<ref name=":0" />
Her second son Erik died in exile in 1319.<ref name=":0" /> The chronicles therefore almost only mention the two daughters of the royal couple, Agnes and Katarina. Nothing is known about the younger daughter Katarina, and the only recorder detail about the eldest daughter, Agnes, is that the King of Denmark donated lands to Slangerup Abbey for her upkeep in 1344.<ref name=":0" />
She was buried in St. Bendt's Church in Ringsted.
thumb|150px|Gravestone from 1582 for Margaret and her husband Birger at St. Bendt's Church in Ringsted (not placed upon the actual grave)<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |year=2014 |title=Erik 4. Plovpenning og Jutta |encyclopedia=Danske kongegrave I |publisher=Selskabet til Udgivelse af danske Mindesmærker |editor=Kryger, Karin |pages=322–335 (p. 323 in particular) |language=da |author=Engberg, Niels}}</ref>
==Issue== The following children of Martha and Birger are known:<ref name=":0"/> * Magnus (1300{{endash}}1320), heir to the throne; executed in Sweden * Erik (d. 1319), archdeacon in Uppsala; died in exile * Third son of unknown name * Agnes (d. after 1344), a nun in Slangerup Abbey * Katarina (d. after 1320); accompanied Birger and Martha in exile
==Notes== <references/>
==References== * {{Cite book |title=Svensk Uppslagsbok |edition=1947 |language=sv |trans-title=Swedish dictionary, 1947 edition}} * {{Cite book |last=Stålberg |first=Wilhelmina |url= |title=Anteqningar om svenska qvinnor |language=sv |trans-title=Notes on Swedish women |chapter=Märtha var en dansk prinsessa, dotter till konung Erik Glipping |year=1864 |trans-chapter=Martha was a Danish princess, daughter of King Erik Glipping |chapter-url=https://runeberg.org/sqvinnor/0306.html}} * {{Cite book |last=Harrison |first=Dick |title=Jarlens sekel: en berättelse om 1200-talets Sverige |language=sv |trans-title=The century of the earl: a tale of 13th-century Sweden}} * {{Cite book |last=Öhman |first=Christer |title=Helgon, bönder och krigare: berättelser ur den svenska medeltidens historia |publisher=Rabén Prisma |year=1994 |isbn=9789151826677 |location=Stockholm |language=sv |trans-title=Saints, farmers and warriors. Stories from Sweden's medieval history}} * {{Cite book |title=Dansk biografisk Lexikon |pages=122–123 |language=da |chapter=Margrethe, Dronning af Sverige |trans-chapter=Margrethe, Queen of Sweden |chapter-url=https://runeberg.org/dbl/11/0124.html}} * {{cite book |last=Wilhelmsson |first=Caroline |title=The Queens and Royal Women of Sweden, C. 970-1330 |publisher=Routledge |publication-place=Abingdon, Oxon; New York, NY |at=Chapter 4.9: Märta Eriksdatter |date=2024 |isbn=978-1-032-49117-2}}
{{S-start}} {{S-hou|||1277||1341||name=Märta Eriksdotter}} {{S-roy|se}} |- {{S-vac|last=Helvig of Holstein}} {{S-ttl|title=Queen consort of Sweden|years=1298–1318}} {{S-vac|next=Blanche of Namur}} {{S-end}}
{{Swedish consorts}} {{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Martha Of Denmark}} Category:House of Estridsen Margaret 1298 Category:Burials at St. Bendt's Church, Ringsted Category:1277 births Category:1341 deaths Category:Princesses of Denmark Category:Danish expatriate royalty Category:13th-century Danish people Category:14th-century Danish people Category:13th-century Danish women Category:14th-century Danish women Category:13th-century Swedish women Category:14th-century Swedish women Category:13th-century Swedish people Category:14th-century Swedish people Category:Daughters of kings Category:Eric V of Denmark