Valdemar II of Denmark

Valdemar II, called the Victorious (1170–1241), succeeded his brother Canute VI as king of Denmark in 1202, conquering Holstein and Lübeck. In 1219 his army defeated the Estonians at Lindanise, where legend says the Dannebrog fell from the sky.

In 1223 he and his son were seized on Lyø by Count Henry of Schwerin and freed only for a ransom; his defeat at Bornhöved in 1227 lost Denmark's German lands. His Code of Jutland was enacted in 1241, shortly before he died.