I admit I'm a bit tired of the book (and later TV) series Game of Thrones in general, and of the historical comparisons of episodes and characters of the same with facts and people of History. I believe that there is no medieval kingdom that has not gone through episodes that in one way or another may have similarities with the plot of George R.R. Martin and I stopped looking for those comparisons that are so fashionable a long time ago.
For this reason I have resisted naming the event that gave rise to this entry «the true story that inspired The Red Wedding of Game of Thrones» . Probably in this way I would get the entry to have more visits and greater diffusion, but I have preferred not to do it. So I'll focus on the story that led to this episode.
To set the scene, we have to place ourselves in Denmark in the year 1104, in which news reaches the kingdom that certifies the death in Cyprus of King Eric Egode (the Good), while on pilgrimage to the Holy Land. The death had taken place almost a year before, but it took a long time to be known in his country. In addition to the king, shortly after his wife, Queen Bodil, had also died, on the very Mount of Olives, that is, as soon as they arrived in Jerusalem.
After receiving the sad news, the throne was occupied by Eric's brother, named Niels. This monarch would reign for thirty years, in which the country experienced a strong commercial and religious impulse, with the construction of numerous churches and monasteries.
But the late King Eric, although he had no children with his wife, had fathered other offspring, and one of them, named Canute Lavard, was not satisfied with the appointment of the new king. To try to please him, Niels named him Duke of Slesvig, a position that entailed important responsibilities, especially in terms of guarding the kingdom's borders. But Canute began to exercise as an independent lord of his land and his way of governing clearly obeyed German influence. This, together with his decision to make personal conquests south of the Danish border, earned him the enmity of the king and especially his son, Prince Magnus.
It was a matter of time before hostilities broke out between the two sides and they broke out when, after the celebration of Christmas 1131 in the king's court, Magnus and his men They murdered Canute Lavard.
But his supporters, led by his brother Eric, took their revenge. First at the Battle of Fodevig (1134) in which Prince Magnus and five of the seven Danish bishops were killed, and then at Slesvig in the same year, where King Niels was assassinated in the street. Eric seized the throne and tried to silence all opposition by murdering his brother and several of his nephews, but his cruelty caused him to soon be murdered as well and the crown to pass into the hands of his nephew, too. named Eric. It was the year 1137.
The new king lacked personality, to the point of going down in history with the nickname of Eric the Lamb. In 1146 he decided to abdicate and retire to a convent, which started a period of war between three candidates to succeed him. The first of these was the eldest son of Eric the Lamb, named Sweyn, and he was appointed king. But there were two descendants of characters to whom we have referred before who were not willing to give up their rights to the throne, considering that they were better than those of Sweyn:Canute, son of Prince Magnus, and Valdemar, son of Canute Lavard.
After an initial period in which Sweyn and Canute served as joint regents in the face of Valdemar's opposition, Valdemar joined forces with Valdemar (even though Valdemar's father had murdered his). The situation was untenable and finally the three contenders agreed to submit to arbitration by the Holy Roman Emperor.
As usual, the solution given by him (dividing the country into three parts, each governed by one of the contenders) did not satisfy any of the three candidates for the Danish throne . To try to find a solution to their differences, they agreed to meet and hold a banquet at the royal castle of Roskilde. It was the year 1157.
On the night of the banquet, a group of armed men stormed the room where the feast was taking place and turned off all the lights in the room. They then went on an indiscriminate slaughter; Canute, the son of Prince Magnus, was killed, while Valdemar, son of Canute Lavard, was seriously injured. This made all suspicions about the responsibility for what happened in what became known as "The bloody feast of Roskilde" fall on the third candidate for the throne, Sweyn.
Valdemar managed to flee to Jutland with his followers, but Sweyn pursued him, with his fleet and his army. Both forces met at the town of Grathe Heath and Valdemar's was victorious. Sweyn fled from the battlefield, but his escape was intercepted by a peasant who smashed his skull in with an ax and killed him.
Valdemar thus became the undisputed monarch of Denmark and began a long and fruitful reign that earned him the nickname of the Great… but that is another story, part of it narrated in the entry dedicated to Valdemar's great companion, Bishop Absalon Rig, who incidentally was also present at the bloody feast at Roskilde. Roskilde is also the traditional resting place of Danish kings and queens, many of whose coffins are in the city's cathedral whose façade is featured in the photo at the top of the entry (image:author's archive).
Font| Palle Lauring. A history of Denmark.