Helena of Denmark

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Helena of Denmark, also known as Helene Valdemarsdatter (c. 1180 – 22 November 1233), was a Danish princess who became Lady of Lüneburg. She was the daughter of King Valdemar I of Denmark and Sophia of Minsk, and sister of Ingeborg, Queen of France. In her youth she was promised in marriage to a son of Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa, but the match was canceled in 1184 after her brother Canute IV refused to swear fealty to the Emperor. In 1202, Helena married Lord William of Lüneburg in Hamburg, and they had a son, Otto I, who would become Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (the Child). After William’s early death in 1213, his brother Otto IV became regent for Otto the Child. Otto IV also arranged for Otto to inherit the Guelph lands. Helena died in 1233 and was buried at the Benedictine monastery of St. Michael in Lüneburg.