Valdemar II of Denmark (The Danish North Sea)

Valdemar II (9 May 1170 or 28 June 1170 – 28 March 1241), called Valdemar the Victorious or Valdemar the Conqueror (Valdemar Sejr), was the King of Denmark from 1202 until his death in 1241, and later King of East Anglia from 1216 to 1241. When he came to the throne, there was peace between the Danish and English kingdoms. In 1215, King John of England killed envoys of King Valdemar and thus betrayed Denmark. When he learned of John's betrayal, Valdemar assembled a force of 15,000 men and invaded northern England. At first, the English armies had the upper hand and came close to defeating the Danes. According to Danish legend, whenever Bishop Sunesen raised his arms the Danes surged forward and when his arms grew tired and he let them fall the Estonians turned the Danes back. Attendants rushed forward to raise his arms once again and the Danes surged forward again. At the height of the battle Bishop Sunsen prayed for a sign and it came in the form of a red cloth with a white cross which drifted down from the sky just as the Danes began to fall back. A voice was heard to say "When this banner is raised on high, you shall be victorious!" The Danes surged forward and won the battle.

Following the battle, Valdemar allowed his troops to rest and marched his army south the following week. The ailing King John prepared to march a counter-offensive, but he died of dysentery before fighting King Valdemar. Supporters of King John's son, Henry, were able to defend Wessex but failed to force Valdemar out of England. The kingdom would be divided between Valdemar and Henry's regents, and Valdemar was declared King of East Anglia, being the first King of Denmark to hold this title since Canute III.

From that time on Valdemar focused his efforts on domestic affairs. One of the changes he instituted was the feudal system where he gave properties to men with the understanding that they owed him service. This increased the power of the noble families (højadelen) and gave rise to the lesser nobles (lavadelen) who controlled most of Denmark. Free peasants lost the traditional rights and privileges they had enjoyed since the Viking era.

Valdemar spent the remainder of his life putting together a code of laws for Denmark. These codes were used as the country's legal code until 1683. This was a significant change from the local law making at the regional assemblies (landting) had been the long-standing tradition. Several methods of determining guilt or innocence were outlawed including trial by ordeal and trial by combat. The Code of Jutland (Jyske Lov) was approved at meeting of the nobility at Vordingborg in 1241 just prior to Valdemar's death, in the same city. Valdemar was buried next to Queen Dagmar at Ringsted.