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276
LYØ ISLAND.
Chap. XLIX.
Knolien Point, another green islet appears in view—
islet celebrated in Denmark’s early history. A sad
celebrity too it bears; for from the event which there
occurred dates the downfall of her country’s greatness.
In the ballad of ‘ Dronning Leonora,’ King Valdemar
exclaims—
“ Full well we recollect the hunting of Lyø.” *
It was on the eve of the 7th of May, in the year 1223,
that Valdemar the Victorious, and his elected son
Valdemar the younger, reposed after a hard day’s hunting,
not far from a fountain which still bears the name of
Kongens Kilde. Soundly they slept in their tents, little
imagining the danger by which they were menaced.
Suddenly, in the dead of the night, they are attacked
and seized by the armed bands of their vassal Count
Henry of Schwerin, and carried prisoners to the fortress
of Lenzen, in Altmark, where they remained for three
years.f In vain the pope threatened, in vain other
sovereigns solicited their liberation. Valdemar at last
obtained his liberty by having first surrendered his
conquests, and renounced all future claim to their
possession. Old Hvidtfelt thus quaintly describes the
unfortunate event:—
“ They sat in the tower in irons and strong chains
for three years, at which every man, both princes and
people, were greatly surprised that so insignificant a
* The High House—det høie huus—so often spoken of in the island
of Lyø, and which is now part of the priest’s gaard, is of later date than
Valdemar, for he slept in the open air.
t When Count Henry of Schwerin went on a pilgrimage to the Holy
Land, he confided the countess to the charge of his sovereign—Queen
Berengaria was dead—and it was to revenge the seduction of his wife by
the king that Count Henry undertook the expedition. The Princes
Erik and Abel remained as hostages for seven years.
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