At this period Denmark was at the summit of her glory. Her descent was more rapid than her rise. There are few instances in all history where that descent is so remarkable. The occasion of this change was a man insignificant in himself, and in his influence. Among the vassals whom Valdemar had acquired by his successes over the count of Holstein, was Henry count of Schwerin. In granting to Henry the investiture of the lordship, Valdemar had demanded the hand of the count’s sister for his natural son Nicholas, whom he had created count of Upper Halland, and, as a dowry, one half of the castle of Schwerin with the dependencies. Whether this stipulation was sanctioned by the count, we know not; but we know that Valdemar had forcibly occupied a portion of the lordship, and conferred it on that son. This was an injustice, and deeply was it revenged. Count Henry repaired to the Danish court, showed great obsequiousness, won the confidence of the king, and one night while encamped in the wood after a hard day’s hunting, he caused both Valdemar and his eldest son to be surprised, carried on board a vessel, conveyed to the Mecklenburg coast, and confined in the strong castle of Schwerin! All Europe was in surprise at an event which resembled a tale of knight errantry more than a fact—that the obscure, the powerless count Henry should thus seize the greatest monarch of the North, and cast him like a common felon into a dungeon. [Sidenote: 1223 to 1226.] That all Denmark did not rise as one man, and hasten to release its monarch, may, to modern readers, seem extraordinary. But had it done so, we know not what the result might have been. If those were days of chivalry, they were also days of gross perfidy: as an army approached Schwerin, he would have been transferred to some more distant fortress until he had acceded to all the terms demanded from him. Many were the princely nobles who were ready to share in the responsibility of the act, provided they might also share in its advantages; even the emperor Frederic was inclined to imitate the example of his predecessor in regard to Richard Plantagenet. More ruinous to Denmark was the captivity of Valdemar, than that of Richard to England. We shall not detail the negotiations which, during three years, agitated the realm; but the reverses experienced by the Danish arms may be noticed. The new conquests north of the Elbe were lost. Livonia and Esthonia were freed from dependence on the crown. The Slavonic provinces of Pomerania asserted their independence. Lubeck and also Dithmarsh showed a disposition to escape from the yoke. At length the menaces of the pope, and still more the gifts distributed among the leading actors in this strange proceeding, led to the monarch’s release. The conditions were that 45,000 marks of fine silver should be paid for his ransom, with all the gold and ornaments which the queen possessed, and complete habiliments for 100 knights; that forty Danes, including two sons of the