History of the Crusades

the Crusades Episode 270. Episode 217, the Baltic, the Baltic Crusades, the Levonian Crusade Part 23, William of Moderner.

Hello again.

Last week we saw fortunes change in the Livonian Crusade,

with everything going really well for Bishop Albert and everything going really very

badly for Bishop Bernard of Samagalia, who died unexpectedly, the Sword Brothers who lost land after struggling to reclaim

their Estonian possessions from the local Estonians, and Vardamar of Denmark. Now we pointed out last week that

King Valdamar's captor Henry the Black, the Count of Schwerin, had opened the ransom negotiations

for the release of the King of Denmark with an offer which everyone, probably including Henry the Black, thought was totally outrageous.

That offer was Denmark must withdraw from the land it was occupying in the Holy Roman Empire and pay Henry

the Black the sum of 40,000 marks.

Everyone knew that Denmark was never going to agree to these terms, but Henry the Black

stuck to his demands and refused to negotiate further, meaning that the ransom process stalled

and the Danish king remained in captivity an outcome which may have been Henry's goal from the beginning.

Now, Henry had kidnapped King Valdemar in May 1223. By November 1225, more than two years after he was captured, his release was

finally negotiated.

You might remember from last week's episode that one of the reasons why Henry had made

an outrageously high ransom demand and then had refused to negotiate on the terms was due to the

fact that the King's captivity was the only favorable card he held.

Both the Holy Roman Emperor and the Pope were staunch allies of the Danish monarch,

and the only people really cheering his captivity were rebellious Saxon overlords who were none too happy that their lands were being occupied by Denmark and really there was only a handful of them.

As a result Henry knew that as soon as King Valdemar was released he and his family

...