Podcast: Beyond the Swedish Postcard
Episode Focus: The story of Margareta Valdemarsdotter; the woman who united Scandinavia, held three kingdoms, and died under mysterious circumstances on a ship in Flensburg harbor. Margareta is the Swedish spelling, in Danish she is Margrete I, in English she is Margaret I or Queen Margaret.
“She was not queen. She was not king. She was something that didn’t quite have a name. The chroniclers called her simply: the Lady King.”
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📖 Episode Summary
On the night of October 28, 1412, a ship called the Trinity lay at anchor in Flensburg harbor. Below deck, a woman lay dying. Her name was Margareta Valdemarsdotter. She was fifty-nine years old. And she was the most powerful woman in Europe.
By morning, she was dead.
The official cause of death was never recorded. Plague? Illness? Grief? Or poison – by the hand of the heir she had raised?
This episode explores:
- The daughter of the plague king – growing up in Valdemar Atterdag’s court, betrothed at six, raised by the daughter of Saint Birgitta
- The son – maneuvering her five-year-old son Olaf onto the throne, his sudden death at sixteen, and the whispers that she poisoned him
- The lover – Abraham Brodersson, the handsome knight who may have been the father of her secret daughter, and his execution at Eric’s command
- The Kalmar Union – uniting Denmark, Norway, and Sweden under a single crown (1397), the treaty that was never fully ratified
- The false Olaf – a peasant’s son who claimed to be her dead child, paraded through the streets with a paper crown, then burned at the stake
- The queen – her death on the Trinity, the whispers of poison, and the heir who inherited everything
- The legacy – a sarcophagus in Roskilde, a union that crumbled, and questions we are still asking
📍 Places Mentioned
Flensburg Harbor
The disputed border between Denmark and Holstein. The ship Trinity anchored here on October 28, 1412. Margareta died aboard.
Kalmar Castle – Kalmar, Sweden
The fortress where the union of three kingdoms was sealed in June 1397. Eric of Pomerania was crowned king of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden here. Margareta objected to parts of the treaty and left it unfinished.
Roskilde Cathedral – Roskilde, Denmark
Margareta’s final resting place. Her sarcophagus, carved by Johannes Junge in 1423, presents her in a deliberately androgynous royal pose. A UNESCO World Heritage site.
Vadstena Abbey – Östergötland, Sweden
The Bridgettine monastery founded by Saint Birgitta. Margareta may have placed a secret daughter – named Birgitta – here. The girl was educated among the nuns, protected, hidden in plain sight.
Sønderborg Castle – Sønderborg, Denmark
The site of Abraham Brodersson’s execution by sword (August 27, 1410). Eric of Pomerania ordered the killing without Margareta’s knowledge.
Lund Cathedral – Lund, Sweden
Margareta caused an altar to be raised here for Abraham Brodersson – endowed so that masses would be said for his soul, and for hers, in perpetuity.
📖 Sources & Further Reading
Primary sources:
- The Kalmar Union Letter (draft, 1397) – never fully ratified
- Johann von Posilge’s chronicle – the false Olaf confession
- Contemporary chronicles of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden
Secondary sources:
- Etting, Vivian. Margrete I: Nordens dronning (Margareta I: Queen of the North) – the definitive biography
- Etting, Vivian. Queen Margrete I and the Kalmar Union
- Harrison, Dick. Kalmarunionen: En nordisk stormakt (in Swedish)
- Olesen, Jens E. Margrete I: Kvinden der skabte Kalmarunionen
Fiction/film:
- Margrete: Queen of the North (2021) – Danish historical film dramatizing the false Olaf story
🧠 Key Takeaways
1. Margareta was the daughter of the plague king.
Valdemar Atterdag rebuilt Denmark from nothing after the Black Death. He invaded Gotland in 1361 and slaughtered the Gutnish farmers. Margareta was ten years old. She watched. She learned.
2. She was raised by the daughter of Saint Birgitta.
Märta Ulfsdotter – Birgitta’s daughter – taught Margareta that a woman’s voice, if claimed fiercely enough, did not have to be silent.
3. She maneuvered her five-year-old son onto the throne.
After Valdemar’s death (1375), Margareta had young Olaf elected king of Denmark. She ruled as regent. Then Norway. Then both.
4. Olaf died at sixteen (1387).
The whispers started immediately: she poisoned him. Teenagers died all the time in the fourteenth century. But a woman holding power was so threatening that people believed she had murdered her own child.
5. She was called the Lady King.
With no husband and no son, she ruled Denmark and Norway as “sovereign lady and rightful ruler.” The chroniclers had no word for what she was.
6. She may have loved a knight named Abraham Brodersson.
He was handsome. He was capable. He led her armies. He was always at her side. Some historians believe they had a daughter – named Birgitta – placed in the convent at Vadstena.
7. Eric of Pomerania executed Abraham in 1410.
Eric – her adopted heir – accused Abraham of rape and had him killed by the sword. Without Margareta’s knowledge. Without her consent.
8. The Kalmar Union united three kingdoms (1397).
Denmark, Norway, and Sweden under a single crown. Eric was crowned king. Margareta still ruled.
9. The Union Letter was never fully ratified.
Margareta objected to provisions that would have preserved each kingdom’s separate laws. She wanted one kingdom. She left the treaty unfinished rather than accept limits on her power.
10. The false Olaf (1402) was burned at the stake.
A peasant’s son claimed to be her dead child. He was paraded through the streets with a paper crown, then burned. Political theatre. Power made visible.
11. She issued kvindefred – “women’s peace.”
Explicitly protecting women from violence during war. She later distributed five hundred marks among women who had been “violated and debased.”
12. She died on a ship in Flensburg harbor (October 28, 1412).
Plague? Grief? Or poison? The official cause was never recorded. The whispers started immediately: Eric of Pomerania poisoned her.
13. Eric’s reign was a disaster.
Deposed in all three kingdoms by 1439. He ended his days as a pirate on Gotland – raiding ships for survival, living in the ruins of the island her father had conquered.
14. Her sarcophagus at Roskilde is deliberately androgynous.
Carved by Johannes Junge in 1423. Neither king nor queen. Something beyond both. The Lady King, rendered in stone.
15. Three deaths. Three people she loved. Each consumed by power.
Her son. Her lover. Herself. Each death left a trail of whispers. Each death expands someone’s power. The question has never been answered: was the most powerful woman in Europe destroyed by the people she loved most?
💬 Quotes
“She was not queen. She was not king. She was something that didn’t quite have a name. The chroniclers called her simply: the Lady King.”
“A woman holding power in a man’s world was so unnatural, so threatening, so fundamentally wrong that people were willing to believe she had murdered her own child.”
“Power is never given. It is taken.”
“The Lady King did not negotiate with pretenders. And she did not apologize for her power.”
“Three deaths. Three people she loved. Each one consumed by power.”
“She held the keys to three kingdoms. She never let them go – until someone took them from her.”
“Was she a murderer? A mother who sacrificed her son for a crown? Was she a victim? Poisoned by the heir she had created? We don’t know. The stones of Roskilde keep their secrets.”
“People are complicated. Power is complicated.”
🗣️ Pronunciation Guide
- Margareta Valdemarsdotter – mar-gah-REH-tah VAL-deh-mars-dot-ter
- Valdemar Atterdag – VAL-deh-mar AT-ter-dahg
- Haakon VI – HOH-kon the Sixth
- Eric of Pomerania – EH-rik of Pom-er-AY-nee-ah
- Märta Ulfsdotter – MAIR-tah OOLFS-dot-ter
- Birgitta – bir-GIT-tah
- Olaf – OH-lahf
- Abraham Brodersson – AH-brah-ham BROH-der-son
- Kalmar – KAL-mar
- Vadstena – VAD-steh-nah
- Sønderborg – SUN-der-bor-ee
- Lund – LOOND
- Roskilde – ROSS-kil-deh
- Flensburg – FLENS-bur-ee
- Johann von Posilge – YOH-han fon POH-zil-geh
- Engelbrekt – ENG-el-brekt
- kvindefred – KVIN-deh-fred
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If this episode moved you – if it made you think differently about power, about women in history, about the forces that shaped Scandinavia:
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🎙️ Coming Next
Episode 17 – The Engelbrekt Rebellion
The union that Margareta built began to crumble under Eric’s disastrous reign. In 1434, a Swedish nobleman named Engelbrekt Engelbrektsson raised the banner of revolt. Farmers, miners, and nobles united against Danish rule. The Kalmar Union would never be the same.
That’s next time.
🏁 Final Thought
Three deaths. Three people she loved. Each one consumed by power.
Was she a murderer? A mother who sacrificed her son for a crown? Was she a victim? Poisoned by the heir she had created?
But the union she built – the idea of it – has never really died. Even now, the dream of Nordic unity hasn’t died.
The Lady King built a fortress against the chaos of her time. It didn’t last. But the questions she forced people to ask – about power, about women, about whether these northern lands should stand together or fall apart – we’re still asking them today.
She held the keys to three kingdoms. She never let them go – until someone took them from her.
Until next time, keep looking beyond the Swedish postcard.
— JB
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