wrath into the sea below, which opened to receive it, and
closed over its head with billows of smoke and flame.

Valdemar died in 1182, after making such friends of his people and doing
so much for them, that when the funeral procession, headed by Bishop
Absolon, drew near the church of Ringsted, where the burial was to take
place, it was met by a throng of peasants, weeping and lamenting, who
begged the privilege of carrying the body of their beloved king to his
last resting place.

When the bishop began to read the service for the dead his voice failed
him and he wept and trembled so much that he had to be held up by some of
the assistant monks. After all was over the people went away in deep
grief, saying that Denmark's shield and the pagans' scourge had been
taken from them and that the country would soon be overrun again by the
heathen Wends.

But Absolon kept a firm hand upon the reins of state, and when the young
Prince Knud, Valdemar's son, was proclaimed king at the age of twenty
everything was in order. Knud proved as good and gallant as his father,
holding Denmark bravely against all foes, and when the Emperor Barbarossa
sent to him to appear before the imperial court at Ratisbon and do homage
for his crown, he returned a defiant answer.

The position of Denmark had greatly changed since Valdemar had obeyed
such a summons, and when the envoy of the emperor brought him the
imperial command, he sent back the following proud reply:

"Tell your master that I am as much monarch in my own realm as the kaiser
is in his, and if he has a fancy for giving away my throne, he had better
first find the prince bold enough to come and take it from me."

This ended all question of the vassalage of Denmark, but the emperor
never forgot nor forgave the insult and took every opportunity in after
years to stir up strife against Denmark. In 1184 he incited the pagan
princes of Pomerania to invade the Danish islands with a fleet of five
hundred ships. But they had old Bishop Absolon to deal with, and they
were so utterly routed that when the fog, which had enabled the Danes to
approach them unseen, cleared away, only thirty-five of their ships were
able to keep the sea.

This victory made Knud ruler over all Pomerania and part of the kingdom
later known as Prussia, and he added to his title that of "King of the
Wends and other Slavs." He went on adding to his home kingdom until the
dominion of Denmark grew very wide.

Tha