Valdemar, Duke of Finland
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Valdemar Magnusson (died February 16, 1318), was Duke of Finland, a Swedish prince and the third son of king Magnus I of Sweden and his queen Helvig of Holstein.
He was born in the 1280s. At the coronation of his older brother Birger of Sweden, Valdemar became the duke of Finland, and was at the same time married to Kristina, the daughter of the marshal Torgils Knutsson.
When the marshal was toppled, in 1305, Valdemar divorced his wife claiming that they were spiritually related (baptism siblings). In the fall of 1312, in Oslo, he married Ingeborg, the daughter of Eirik II of Norway. In 1316, they had a son who probably died young.
In 1315, Valdemar and his elder brother managed to wrest large parts of the Swedish kingdom from their brother. Valdemar gained Åbo and Tavastehus with a lion's share of Finland, the castle of Stockholm, most of Uppland, and Borgholm with Öland.
His career was stopped and his life was shortened by the treachery of his brother King Birger, the de jure ruler of Sweden. During a call on his brother in Nyköping, he and his brother Eric Magnusson were arrested and chained, the night between the 10th and 11th of December 1317. No one knows for certain how the two brothers died. They either starved to death or were murdered.
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This article contains content from the Owl Edition of Nordisk familjebok, a Swedish encyclopedia published between 1904–1926 now in Public Domain.
