Kongehusets digitale julekalender 2021.
Dansk
Juleenglen har taget en træt Nissefar under sine blå vinger og fløjet ham til en stor, åben mark, der ligger ved byen Thorning i Midtjylland. Hele natten har Nissefar ikke kunnet sove, da Juleenglen i går antydede, at dagen i dag kunne ende med at blive nok så blodig – og det siger ikke så lidt, når nissen og englen har tilbragt de seneste dage i vikingekongernes selskab!
”Vi er sprunget et par hundrede år frem i Kongerækken … men det bliver det ikke mindre voldsomt af,” siger Juleenglen og beder Nissefar komme med et gæt på, hvor de mon er. Han giver sig til at nærstudere et højt monument, der er rejst i den jyske muld. Dér kan han se en krone og et sværd, men Nissefar konstaterer hurtigt, at det kan stamme fra mange konger gennem tiden. Så klogere gør det ham ikke. ”Men hvis jeg siger Svend, Knud og Valdemar, er der så en juleklokke, der ringer hos dig?” spørger englen, der i samme sekund taber Nissefar af syne. For som det hurtigste væsen på heden er Nissefar krøbet i skjul bag en græstørv. Han kan nemlig godt huske de tre fætre, der i midten af 1100-tallet alle kæmpede om at være enekonge i Danmark – og det vækker ikke gode minder. Slet ikke for en nisse, der bedst kan lide at sprede god julestemning.
For Nissefar og Juleenglen befinder sig på Grathe Hede, hvor et af Danmarkshistoriens blodigste opgør fandt sted. Kongedømmet i Danmark var i ældre tid et valgkongedømme. Det betød, at man valgte én fra kongeslægten, når der skulle vælges ny konge. Juleenglen husker, at der som regel var enighed, men det skete også, at tingene ikke gik så let. Således udbrød der borgerkrig, da Kong Erik 3. Lam abdicerede i 1146, og de østdanske stormænd valgte Svend 3. Grathe til konge, mens jyderne valgte Knud 3. som deres konge.
”Og for at gøre en lang og kompliceret historie kort,” siger Juleenglen og fortsætter, ”så endte det med, at hele riget blev delt i tre dele efter en borgerkrig, således at Svend fik Skåne, Knud fik Sjælland og fætteren Valdemar 1. fik Jylland.” Freden skulle derefter fejres med et gilde i Roskilde. Men her forsøgte Svend at dræbe de to andre, hvorfor mødet huskes som ”Blodgildet i Roskilde”. Knud blev dræbt, mens Valdemar undslap, og ved et efterfølgende slag på Grathe Hede faldt Svend, og Valdemar stod derefter som sejrherre tilbage som konge over hele Danmark.
Juleenglen forklarer, at dette var begyndelsen på den periode, som mange kalder for ”Valdemarernes storhedstid”. I morgen er det Juleenglens plan, at Nissefar skal blive klogere på Valdemarerne.
English
The Christmas Angel has taken a tired Elf Father under her blue wings and flown him to a large, open field situated by the town of Thorning in Central Jutland. Elf Father has not been able to sleep all night, as the Christmas Angel suggested yesterday that today could end up being rather bloody - and that says quite a lot when the elf and the angel have spent time the past few days in the company of Vikings!
“We have leaped a couple hundred years forward in the Royal Lineage ... but it doesn’t get any less violent,” says the Christmas Angel, and she asks Elf Father to hazard a guess as to where they are. He begins to take a close look at a tall monument that has been erected in the Jutland soil. There, he can see a crown and a sword, but Elf Father quickly realizes those could have come from many kings over time. So that doesn’t make him any wiser. “But if I say Svend, Knud and Valdemar, does that ring a Christmas bell for you?” asks the angel, who loses sight of Elf Father that same second. Because, as the fastest creature on the moor, Elf Father has hidden behind a piece of turf. He can well remember the three cousins who, in the mid-1100s, all fought to be the one and only king of Denmark – and that does not evoke good memories. Certainly not for an elf who likes best to spread good Christmas cheer.
Elf Father and the Christmas Angel find themselves on Grathe Moor, where one of the bloodiest conflicts in Denmark’s history took place. Long ago, Denmark’s monarchy was an elective monarchy. That meant that someone from the royal house was elected when a new king had to be chosen. The Christmas Angel remembers that there was usually agreement, but there was a time when things did not go so easily. Thus, a civil war broke out when King Erik III Lam abdicated in 1146, and the eastern Danish noblemen selected Svend III Grathe as king, while the Jutlanders chose Knud III as their king.
“And, to make a long and complicated story short ...” says the Christmas Angel, “... it ended up that the whole realm was divided into three parts after a civil war. And, so Svend got Skåne, Knud got Zealand and cousin Valdemar I got Jutland.” The peace arrangement was supposed to have been celebrated afterwards with a feast in Roskilde. But, there, Svend tried to kill the other two, which is why the meeting is remembered as the “Blood Feast of Roskilde”. Knud was killed, while Valdemar escaped, and, at a subsequent battle at Grathe Moor, Svend was killed, leaving Valdemar as the victor and the king of all of Denmark.
The Christmas Angel explains that this was the beginning of the period many call “The Great Age of the Valdemars”. The Christmas Angel’s plan is that Elf Father will become wiser about that tomorrow.